Second Chances
by Harog
Summary: Shepard united the entire galaxy against the Reapers, and prevailed. However, after she thought she sacrificed herself for the galaxy she wakes up somewhere. Now she fights the walking dead, caring for a little girl along the way. Rated M due to Violence and Profanity.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, welcome to my Mass Effect/The Walking Dead crossover.**

**This first chapter is going to be serving as a little sample. See if you guys actually enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: Neither The Walking Dead or Mass Effect or its characters belong to me.**

Second Chances: A New Beginning

* * *

**Citadel - Shepard's POV**

Shepard took a look out at the battle.

It was going better than anyone could have expected, after all she made it to the Citadel.

But how long could that last while she sat here deciding how the way the war ended. How many people were dying while she sat here and debated with herself?

She could destroy them like she had imagined the Crucible was designed to do. But could she really commit genocide. Legion had died to save his people from the Reapers. Who was she to make sure that sacrifice was made in vain?

Could she kill EDI?

"_It's nice when we can save the galaxy without destroying another race along the way."_

Shepard stiffened for two reasons. One because Garrus was right, and two because she finally realized that she was not going to be seeing Garrus again. Or that Turian-Human baby she desperately wanted to see too.

Shepard chuckled despite the crushing realization. Garrus always said the most adorable, heartwarming, stupid things that put a smile on her face, and make her want to cry at least a little.

"_Shepard I … love you too."_

She would admit that she knew all this time, but hearing the words. They gave her a sense of peace, the first time in years.

"Sorry I couldn't follow orders Garrus." Whispered Shepard

Back on to the task at hand, Shepard debated the last two options. Controlling the Reapers or Synthesis.

If she took control she would basically ascend to godhood in a way. If it was actually her in control and not a program created from her. But what happened if one day if she decided that the Catalyst's original program was correct. The war would restart, with the Reapers most likely spread out throughout the galaxy all at once. The cycle would just be restarted and nothing would change.

Synthesis. It sounded nice; it should allow for peace if what the Catalyst said was true.

But what if it wasn't.

"_If you follow that line of logic then you can't believe any of the options and then you can't choose anything in fear of what might happen. Then everyone dies anyway. What does that accomplish? Nothing. But if what it said was true then organics and synthetics would have peace through understanding. True peace._

True peace. Isn't that what she fought for all these months? Isn't that what she told the Illusive Man every time he questioned what she was fighting for?

Yes. It was.

Getting disintegrated certainly wasn't what Shepard had been expecting, but neither was she totally surprised either. Life had been cruel to her in so many ways, Mindoir, The Blitz, being killed, and then the war.

Though certain people made it all worth it in the end.

The end.

An interesting concept for someone that had died before, and knew what death had in store for them.

Shepard dropped her gun and slowly made her way down the center line.

Images slowly drifted in and out of her mind.

Jenkins, Kaidan, Mordin, Thane, Legion, Anderson.

Her failings, the people that were lost on her watch.

Tali, Liara, Wrex, Grunt, Samara, Miranda, Jacob, Zaeed, Kasumi, Jack, EDI, Ashley, Javik, James.

Her friends, Comrades in arms.

Garrus.

Words couldn't even begin to describe.

Shepard was almost at the edge of the platform.

She refused to go out limping, looking like she could barely walk. She would go out strong.

So she ran, straight towards the abyss. She did not hesitate to jump.

It felt peaceful, being slowly disintegrated. It didn't hurt at all like she imagined. She saw her fingers disappear but she could have sworn that she could still feel them.

The universe was being kind for once. A tiny reward for saving not only galactic civilization as she knew it but all other life that was would have fallen prey to the Cycles in the future.

Shepard felt a sense of completion as she saw what was left of herself start to dissolve.

* * *

Shepard slowly opened her eyes.

She was in some woods.

She thought for the briefest moment that she was in some sort of afterlife … that was until she tried to move and her limbs started to ache.

Shepard groaned.

Shepard just lay still, enjoying the view of actual living trees.

_Wait … living trees … where the Hell am I?_

Shepard, despite the urge to lie still, struggled to her feet. It wasn't as challenging as she was expecting, given her injuries.

Shepard was still covered in the remains of her N7 armor, however she could move quiet easily, only the throb of sore muscles trying to stop her … not the nasty burns that her body had been wracked with on the Citadel.

She was considering how her wounds had healed when a scream assaulted her hears … and then quickly stopped.

Never a good sign.

It was a loud and very pained scream … and it was coming from somewhere nearby.

Shepard struggled to walk as fast as possible as quietly as possible to the source, but that was easier said than done. She normally would avoid screams while she was unarmed and injured but she needed information and someone else needed help.

Shepard almost screamed out when she saw it.

A man, in some kind of uniform, was over another man … feasting on his flesh.

The cannibal himself didn't look that good. Something had taken a few bites out of him, and it appeared that something had broken his lower back.

The man was having dinner right next what appeared to be a … car? The thing was a total wreck, flipped on its side.

_What the … a car. Who the Hell uses cars anymore? Am I on some backwards colony?_

A few feet away from Shepard laid something of even greater importance.

A shotgun. A true 21st century shotgun.

She wouldn't have recognized it if it weren't for the fact that she had a slight obsession and large collection of antique guns on the Normandy.

_No one uses weapons like those anymore. Not even … where am I, and how did I get here?_

The cannibal was still oblivious to her presence and continued to munch away at his kill.

The shotgun was only a few feet away from her, if she was quiet …

Shepard slowly moved towards the weapon.

_And if it's not loaded? _

_Then I'll just have to improvise._

Shepard slowly picked up the weapon.

That's when a twig crunched under her.

_SHIT!_

The cannibal turned and started to emit this awful noise as it crawled towards her.

Shepard raised the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

To her immense surprise it actually fired.

The round caused his head to burst like a ripe tomato.

_And you said having that gun collection wouldn't be useful._

* * *

"_So, Shepard, any reason you collect antique guns? Don't we already have enough guns in our lives?" Garrus asked as he looked over Shepard's rather impressive collection that was over her desk._

"_Maybe, but I like them. They remind me of how things used to be done. You know … poorly."_

_Garrus chuckled at that._

"_Can't say much has changed." He added_

"_No, but I can always think that it used to be worse."_

"_True. Do any of these even work?" _

"_No. Not loaded and I took out all the firing pins. I guess I could put them back … but I bet that wouldn't work out well."_

"_What's the point then?"_

"_It's just a collection, besides you never know when you are going to need one."_

"_If you need to use one of those you're already dead. So … no point."_

"_I guess, but what would you recommend I collect. Ships models?"_

_Garrus shrugged._

* * *

Shepard couldn't help but smile.

_Told you so._

Crack.

Shepard looked all around her to discover even more of those … things coming out of the woodwork.

There were too many to shoot.

Dropping the gun, Shepard bolted to the left. Apparently she went the right way as she noticed the wooden gate of a house almost immediately.

However, Shepard's left leg gave out under her. Apparently she still wasn't in that great of shape. It was a miracle that she hadn't collapsed earlier.

Shepard pulled herself up and threw herself as high as she could, and actually succeeded in getting a grip on the top of the fence. Using most of her strength, she was able to haul herself over just as those … things … reached her.

Shepard however landed hard on her leg, the one that had already collapsed.

"FUCK!" she screamed as she collapsed again

Shepard could tell that she would need to find a doctor for it.

The creatures started to bang on the wooden wall.

Shepard sat absolutely still.

It appeared that they were going to start to try and knock down the wall when several shots were fired … and the banging just stopped.

She knew better than to assume that someone had killed all of them, especially since she could hear their footsteps as they shambled away. Shepard let go of the breath she had been holding.

It appeared that Shepard had wandered into someone's backyard. Owners were probably hiding inside after the shots were fired. Or maybe when those creatures showed up.

Shepard walked, or rather limbed, to the back door. It was a clear sliding glass door but as the lights were off it was hard to see.

Shepard gave the door several knocks.

"Hello! Is anyone there? I need some help!" Shepard yelled

No answer.

The door itself wasn't locked so she slid it open.

"I'm coming in. Don't shoot!" Shepard said forcefully but also carefully to make sure it didn't sound like a threat.

Shepard froze.

The place looked like it had been the witness to one hell of a struggle.

"Hello? Is anyone hurt?" Shepard asked

She received the same chilling lack of a response.

Taking a slow look around Shepard found almost nothing to help her. There was a bowl of fake fruit, a walkie-talkie, a glass of water and ... signs that a child was supposed to be here somewhere.

Shepard was somewhat surprised to find a walkie-talkie. It wasn't exactly common but they were surprisingly still in use, somewhat. Mainly gifts for siblings to play with.

She used to have one too.

Shepard sighed. Hadn't she seen enough children die? While she didn't find any bodies, that blood stain she tripped on in the kitchen certainly didn't make this look good.

"Mommy?" asked a small voice

_The walkie-talkie_

Shepard pulled it out of one of the few suit pockets that remained intact.

"Hello?" Shepard asked as she walked towards the glass door.

"You need to be quiet." A little girl warned

"Are you alright?" Shepard asked

"I'm ok. They tried to get me. But I'm hiding until my parents come home."

"What's your name?" Shepard asked, as she searched for the girl. She was probably hiding and Shepard didn't blame her. She had to be around here somewhere, so Shepard started to look around.

Shepard already had a pretty good guess about her name. If she was right it should be Clementine, based on the little doodle and paint handprint picture.

"I'm Clementine. This is my house."

"Hi Clementine. I'm Shepard." She responded

Shepard couldn't hear Clementine's voice other than from the walkie-talkie, meaning she either was past the barricaded stairs or she wasn't even here.

"Do you know where your parents are?" Shepard asked

"They took a trip and left me with Sandra. They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are."

Shepard wished she had some sort of map. It would certainly help knowing how big the colony was. By the way Clementine said Savannah it sounded like it was another city on this world. That was strange considering the lack of technology here.

"Are you safe?"

"I'm outside in my tree house. They can't get in."

Shepard immediately walked over to the kitchen window, which had a direct view of the tree house.

_Clever girl. _

"Smart"

"See? Can you see me? I can see you through the window." Clementine said as she poked her head through the wooden door.

Shepard gave a small wave as her answer.

"AHHH!" Clementine screamed

Shepard instinctively looked behind her, and it saved her life. Behind her was another one of those things.

It grabbed her, trying to take a bite out of her.

Shepard threw her against the fridge and backed up, trying to get some distance

That proved to be a big mistake as she slipped on the blood; again, her head hitting the corner of something, she didn't actually see what she hit. She assumed it was the kitchen counter.

Shepard kicked out with her right leg, sending the monster sprawling backwards. Giving her enough time to get back up. However this creature was a lot faster than the previous one, and it was able to grab her foot causing her to trip again.

Shepard started to desperately crawl away when she met a terrified Clementine in the door way, holding a hammer.

"H-here" Clementine stuttered as she held out the weapon.

Shepard grabbed it.

The creature was up again but now Shepard actually had a weapon.

It lunged and Shepard responded with a powerful hit to the head, causing it to collapse at Shepard's feet. It was still alive however.

Shepard brought the hammer down three times on its skull before the head caved in.

It did not move after that.

"Thanks" Shepard said

"Did you kill it?"

"I think so but … something did that to her."

"I heard her scream two nights ago. Maybe one of the monsters got her."

"Yeah … I think you're right."

It was silent for a moment before Shepard continued.

"You were … alone for two days of this?" Shepard asked

"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now."

"I don't blame you."

Clementine had what looked like a moment of clarity if her face was anything to go by.

"The answering machine." Clementine mumbled as she ran over to the other side of the living room.

Shepard followed. She didn't want her to listen to it but in her current condition Shepard couldn't reach the answering machine in time … nor did she know how to turn it off.

Clementine pushed the play button before she could stop her. She had a feeling those messages would not bring good news.

"Three new messages. Message one left at five forty-three p.m."

"Hey, Sandra, This is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident' with some crazy guy near the hotel, the guy bit him. Can you believe that!? Had to get Ed back to the ER and have it checked out, anyway, he isn't feeling well enough to drive back tonight so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise that we'll be back in time before your spring break."

_Crazy guy … oh no. Well at least he is still alive._

"Message two. Left at eleven nineteen p.m."

"Oh my God, finally! I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe."

Shepard cringed at the tone of the message. It didn't sound like things we're going well. In fact to her it sounded like martial law … which in these circumstances ... was not good.

"Message three. Left at six fifty-one a.m."

"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. T-that's 9-1-1. We love you. We love you. We love you …"

The message faded to nothing.

She didn't even say that she was coming home … meaning that she knew that she was going to die. Plus the sounds of the creatures and gunfire made it really easy to imagine what happened.

Shepard looked down to Clementine, whose eyes were already filling with tears. The girl was too clever for her own good. She knew exactly what all of that meant.

"M-Mom" Clementine whispered, clenching her eyes shut as the tears started to stroll down her face.

Shepard crouched down to her height.

"Hey … come here." Shepard whispered, opening her arms up.

Clementine couldn't have thrown herself into Shepard's arms faster. The floodgates opened and the tears and sobs came out uncontrollably.

Shepard didn't bother to say anything … after all what could she say. This little girl just found out her parents had died … leaving her all alone.

She had been there though, and understood perfectly what she was going through.

Shepard traced little circles on Clementine's back with her right hand and eventually Clementine stepped back.

"I-I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Now w-what w-will I do?"

"If it's ok with you … I'll watch over you."

"O-ok. What do we do now?" Clementine asked

Shepard looked out the back door. There were still a few hours before dark. Probably enough time to find some help, or at least find a safer place to hide for the night.

"We need to go, find some help or find a safer place to hide."

"Ok."

Shepard looked down at her armor to discover that it was now starting to fall apart even more. It wasn't really salvageable at this point.

"I don't suppose that you would have any idea where to find some spare clothes."

"Sandra stayed upstairs; she would have brought some with her." Clementine added, looking at Sandra's corpse while she did.

"Thanks. Keep the door shut and wait for me down here."

Clementine nodded, running off to close the door.

Shepard crawled up the bookcase that was blocking the stairs.

She checked all the rooms before changing, wouldn't do to be attacked with her pants down.

Thankfully Clementine was right. There was a set of unused clothes hanging in one of the closets.

Even better they were close enough to her size, a little small but nothing too bad.

Shepard tried her Omni-tool, to discover that it was damaged. It's only intact function was the damn phone. However, given time it might be possible to fix. Maybe.

"AHHHH!"

_Oh no_

Shepard bolted it out of the room, but stood still when she heard another voice.

"Where are your parents!?" yelled a man

"They aren't here!" Clementine answered, panic dominating her voice.

"BULLSHIT!"

Clementine was backed into a corner. Thankfully her attacker was facing away from the staircase. He was armed with a single pistol.

Shepard was able to crawl down without being spotted by the man; however Clementine momentarily looked in her direction. The man noticed.

The man turned aiming at Shepard.

"There's mommy." The man sneered

He wasn't quite close enough for her to disarm him. She normally would trust her biotic barrier to deflect the shot but she didn't want to risk anything with Clementine so close. Plus with her injuries maybe it was best not to trust her biotics.

Then a thought hit her.

"I'd actually be threatened if the safety wasn't on."

He fell for it.

The momentary distraction as he looked at his safety was all she needed.

She lunged, able to point the pistol at the ceiling by the time it fired. She threw the gun off to the side and threw the man straight through the glass table.

He went through but came out mostly unscathed.

To retaliate he threw a particularly nasty uppercut that actually hit her. It was a pretty powerful punch.

Her lip was cut, and she could taste the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. A very familiar sensation.

She was slower than she was used to.

He tried to press the advantage but she used his momentum against him. She side stepped another punch and threw him straight into the wall.

Shepard landed three bone-snapping punches to his chest. Counting the amount of ribs she broke.

_Four._

He tried to kick her off but she caught the leg and threw him across the room again. His head connected with the table with the phone, causing him to move sluggishly.

Shepard grabbed his head and brought it straight to her knee.

The crack was loud and signaled the winner very clearly.

She dropped his head and he slumped.

"Clementine" Shepard called

"I'm here." Clementine replied, sticking her head out from around the kitchen.

"It's safe."

Clementine slowly walked over to her

"Is … he dead."

"No. He's alive. But he'll be very sore when he wakes up."

She didn't want to tell her how he was going to have problems moving and breathing until the ribs healed.

_If he survives that long._

Shepard stopped the pity that was slowly starting to appear.

He attacked them. She had no choice.

Shepard searched through the backpack he was carrying and was pleased to find two clips for his pistol, a few snack bars, and two bottled waters.

_He knew he didn't have much. Bet he was raiding houses for food, maybe the occasional gun._

Zipping up the bag she put it on herself, and then grabbed his hostler and pistol.

They would need it.

"Doesn't that stuff belong to him?" Clementine asked

_Innocence. It's nice to see that again._

"He was going to loot your house Clementine. Probably would have killed us if he could have. We're probably protecting others by taking it."

Clementine didn't look particularly satisfied with that answer but she didn't object further either.

"Let's go." Shepard said, holding out her hand for Clementine to hold.

Shepard felt Clementine's small hand fit into her own. Shepard gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Shepard double checked the backyard, making sure nothing that could be of use was left behind. There was nothing there, but the tree house caught her attention.

Though it wasn't really the tree house that caught her attention. It was the image of Clementine surviving by herself for **two days **that did.

Clementine reminded her of herself.

When the Slavers invaded Mindoir she had been on her own for a good fifteen hours before the Alliance arrived.

Shepard couldn't help but admit that Clementine's survival was at least as impressive as her own. Most likely more.

The glare of the sun caught her attention though, it reminded her that time was of the essence.

Shepard led the way to the side of the house when she noticed two men fiddling around with a car.

_Fixing or stealing?_

Clementine opened the gate, which opened with a loud squeak that made Shepard cringe.

The pair turned and to Shepard's relief they didn't pull a gun.

"Holy shit!"

"Don't eat us!"

"We aren't going to hurt you." Shepard quickly replied, raising her hands in the traditional surrender pose.

"Phew, thought for a second you and the little one were BOTH going to give us the chomp."

"We need help." Shepard stated

Though she bet that the same could be said for the two strangers in front of her as well.

"Are you trying to get out of here? Because you should be. Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything as gnarly as this neighborhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back."

_Atlanta … that name sounds familiar._

"I'm Shawn. Shawn Greene."

"Shepard. This is Clementine." Shepard replied

The second one got a knee and said "I'm Chet." to Clementine.

Clementine gave him a small smile.

"We shouldn't be out in the open like this. How about you help us clear the way and we'll take you and your daughter out of here, and down to my family's farm. It should be safer there." Shawn said, trying to get things back on track.

"I'm not her mom." Shepard instinctively replied, hating herself at the moment for raising more questions.

"I'm her babysitter." Shepard amended hastily.

It wasn't a complete lie after all.

Shawn nodded.

"Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake."

Shepard looked down at Clementine, who was looking back at her home.

"Clem-" Shepard started

"Them monsters comin'! We gotta go!" Chet whispered

Chet took a lookout position and Shawn leaned against the car in the way of what she assumed was his truck.

"Shepard, quick!"

Shepard leaned her full weight on the hood of the car, and pushed as hard as her tired, over used, muscles could provide.

The car was soon moved out of the way.

But the creatures were too close.

Shepard grabbed Clementine and threw themselves in the passenger seats. Chet hopped in the bed and Shawn jumped behind the wheel.

Shawn gunned it and mounted the curb getting around several abandoned cars before finally getting a good distance away from their pursuers.

As soon as they were in the clear Shepard turned to Shawn and asked "Can you explain what I just saw?"

"The only thing I know is the people who attacked us were **not **alive."

"Are you saying the walking dead attacked us?" Shepard scoffed

"Yes" Shawn replied

_What, that's crazy. He's wrong … he has to be._

Then a memory reared its ugly head.

"_This Reaper theory proves just how fragile your mental state is."_

Shepard would be hypocritical if she didn't at least examine the idea.

The people that attacked were rather … unhealthy looking. Sandra especially. In fact now that she thought about the skin on Sandra looked, well … rotten.

"Are you sure? If you say yes … I'll believe you." Shepard asked

"Yeah, I saw some in the city that had holes blown through their chests the size of their heads. No one could survive that."

"Yeah" Shepard whispered

_One hand a super intelligent Machine-Organic hybrid armada, and on the other a technological backward colony filled with the walking dead. What. The. Fuck._

_In fact why has no one even talked about this on top of the war?_

_Something is really wrong here._

"So, how do you kill one?" Shepard asked, expecting the stereotypical, over-inflated, movie response.

"It seems like the only thing that drops them for good is destroying the brain."

_Of course_

"Not surprised. I beat one's skull in today, I was just hoping for an easier way."

"Yeah" Shawn replied

The rest of the trip was in silence.

It was dark by the time they arrived.

"Hey, Shawn … I'm a' run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit." Chet explained

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night."

Chet turned towards them and said "It was nice to meet ya both."

Shepard gave a smile and nodded, Clementine gave a little wave.

Suddenly the front door opened.

"Thank God you're ok." Said an older man, probably Shawn's father.

"I wouldn't have made it without Chet."

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you then."

The man noticed her and Clementine and remarked "You've brought a couple of guests."

"Your boy saved our lives." Shepard commented

"Glad he could be of use to somebody. So it's just you and your daughter then."

"Oh, not her daughter. She's her babysitter."

For some reason Shawn's father seemed to doubt that, maybe because it wasn't really true.

He crouched down to Clementine's height and asked "Honey, do you know this woman?"

"Yes" Clementine responded

"Ok then."

He then noticed Shepard's beat up leg, which was bleeding slightly. The fall probably opened up some of the wounds she got on Earth.

"Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

Shepard gave it a glance and replied "It doesn't feel all that well."

"I can help you out. Shawn, run inside and check on your sister. You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

Shepard was relieved that she had found a doctor so quickly.

_At least something went well today._

"Let's, have a look." He said when he returned

He rolled up her jeans a bit to look at the leg.

Even Shepard was surprised by how many bruises there were.

"Yeah, this is swollen to Hell."

"Could be worse."

"That's what it sounds like. Sounds like things got awful bad in the cities. What'd you same your name was?"

"Shepard"

"Nice to meet you, Shepard. I'm Hershel Greene."

Hershel then started to apply the bandage.

"How'd this happen?"

_Fighting a Reaper occupation on the home-world of humanity._

"Car accident."

"That so. Where were you headed? Before the car accident?"

"Grocery store. Ran out of ice-cream and it was movie night. Can't have movie night without it." Shepard answered, giving Clementine an affectionate look to seal the lie.

Hershel gave a light chuckle. Even Clementine was taken in a little by the lie. Probably wishing to be doing that right now.

"House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three sleeping in the barn. You two are welcome to rest there, when we're done here."

Hershel then turned to Clementine and said "I didn't catch your name darlin'."

"Clem-Clementine." She stuttered.

_Seems like she's rather shy._

"Can't imagine what you've been through, Clementine."

"I'm looking after." Shepard said, giving Hershel a knowing look that told him all he needed to know.

Hershel looked like he wanted to say something but Shawn came back before he could speak.

"Hey dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm."

"That doesn't seem necessary."

_Oh I remember that type of attitude. Lovely._

"I don't know what you saw on T.V, or heard on the radio, but there's some serious-" he cast a look at Clementine and whispered "shit hitting the fan. I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet."

"He's right; I know it's what I would do." Shepard added

"Stuff like that doesn't happen around here, Shawn."

_Seriously?_

"Dad, I'm serious. Shepard, come on, tell him what you saw out there."

"I had to bash in an undead girl's skull with a hammer." Shepard said

"Well, do what you think you should. We've got plenty of chores as it is."

"Shepard and those folks in the barn can help out in the morning. We gotta do it, really."

"I already said ok."

Shawn turned to leave when Hershel started to talk again.

"Well, I'm all done here. It should start to feel better tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"If your leg gets hot or the swelling doesn't go down; you're probably dealing with an infection."

_Wouldn't be the first time._

"What would we do then?" Clementine asked, or more like squeaked, from across the patio.

"We'll probably just have to shoot her."

Shepard chuckled.

Clementine however didn't realize it was a joke and her eyes dilated in fear.

"It was a joke, sweetie." Shepard said

"We'll clean it, re-dress it, and she'll be fine." Hershel explained.

"Thanks" Shepard replied

"There are blankets and such in the barn. We'll be seeing you bright and early. Come tomorrow, which way do you think you're headed?"

Shepard just shook her head.

"I … I really don't know."

"You'll figure something out." Hershel replied, heading off into the house afterwards.

Shepard stood up and stretched a bit. That car ride was uncomfortable and long.

_Why the Hell do these people use them._

"Does it feel better?" Clementine timidly asked

"Yeah, Hershel sure knows his stuff. Ready for bed? It's been a long day."

"Yeah"

Clementine looked extremely tired, and Shepard didn't blame her.

"Here, let me help." Shepard said as she gently picked up Clementine.

Clementine fit quite snugly.

By the time Shepard reached the barn Clementine was out.

Shepard did not sleep well that night. She was back in the forest. Again

Except it was Clementine that was running away. It was Clementine that Shepard was ultimately unable to save.

"Hey, get up." Called a voice that stirred her up from sleep.

Shepard yawned, starting to get an awareness of her surroundings.

"I'm itchy." Clementine said

"Well, you slept in a barn, little lady. Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair."

Clementine gasped in fear before the man continued.

"But I bet your mommy scared them all away, huh?"

"I'm not her mom, name's Shepard."

"I'm Kenny."

Just then a little boy turned the corner of the barn. Kenny's son most likely.

"Dad! We're going to build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!"

The little boy was so excited that he ran off before his dad could reply.

Kenny turned to her and said "We better get going or we won't hear the end of it."

Shepard offered her hand to Clementine, who took it, and followed him.

"That's my boy, Ken Junior. We call him Duck, though."

"Duck?" Shepard asked

"Yea. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know."

"Bet that has come in handy in the last few days."

"No kidding. But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammers."

"DAAAD!" Duck yelled in protest, or maybe because he wasn't being fast enough. Who could say for sure?

"But he makes up for it with enthusiasm. Word is you haven't decided where you're going yet."

"Yeah, I don't know. A lot's happened and who knows where safe is." Shepard commented.

She couldn't say she didn't know where she was going because she hadn't been on this colony before.

Colonies like this tend to … dislike off-worlders.

"True, but if you interested I have room for two. We're going to try at make it home. A few places are on the way that will probably be safe. Personally I'd appreciate the company of someone who can crack a couple of heads together if she has to." Kenny explained

_A ride already. That's good. _

Shepard looked at Clementine and asked "What do you think?"

"S-sure." Clementine replied; who was half hidden behind Shepard's legs.

"Honey, Duck, this is Shepard and uh, what's the girl's name?"

"Clementine" Shepard answered

"Clementine" Kenny repeated

Kenny's wife smiled at Clementine and said "That is a very pretty name."

"Thanks" Clementine replied.

"This is my wife Katjaa." Kenny said, finishing the introductions.

Shawn then walked up to the group.

"Well, we should get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there so the faster we can get this fence up, the better." Shawn said

"I want to build a fence!" Duck proclaimed

"Yeah? Well I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break." Shawn replied

"On the tractor? Cool!" Duck replied

A faint smile graced her lips.

_He __**is**__ rather enthusiastic._

"Duck and I will hop to it." Shawn finished

"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." Katjaa offered

Shepard gave Katjaa a smile and walked over to Kenny.

He was busy working on his truck.

_At least someone here is a mechanic. He'll come in handy._

"Hey Kenny" Shepard said, announcing herself.

"Hello Shepard"

"How is Duck doing?" Shepard asked

"Good, I think. Katjaa's got a sister up in Memphis; we were coming back from visiting her. We were in a gas station and some guy grabbed my boy. I thought he was kidnapping him. I was on the fucker in about two seconds and … Christ. Just lucky I was there. We saw a lot of bodies before we stumbled upon Hershel's. But we're a tough family, Shepard. Ain't nothing going to faze us."

"What's after here?"

"Get back on down to Fort Lauderdale and let this mess get sorted out. Government will start handing out shots and the National Guard will do its thing. On the odd chance things got too bad, we could hop on my boat, I guess."

_National Guard? This colony must be huge … and strangely successful. _

"You have a boat?"

"I'm a commercial fisherman, catching mackerel, dolphin, whatever's biting and paying. Katjaa wouldn't be wild about it, but the boat's not that bad."

"Need any help?"

_Please say no. I'm just trying to be nice._

"Naw, I think I got it. Do you need any help?"

"With?"

"I mean, in taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing? You got kids of your own?"

"No I … no."

Kenny seemed to pick up on this hesitation.

"Woulda liked one then."

"Yeah" Shepard replied

"I should go." Shepard muttered before turning around and heading towards the back.

In the back she could see Shawn working on the fence … and Duck having the time of his life on the tractor.

Shepard couldn't even help but smile. Duck's enjoyment was contagious.

She leaned up against the tractor and asked "How is it going Duck?"

"Good! I'm going to drive the tractor! I'm the foreman! Lift with your back, Shawn!"

She couldn't help but chuckle.

She looked over her shoulder to see Shawn standing up.

"Need any help Shawn?"

"That'd be great. If you could cut those two-bys to length, that'd sure speed things up." Shawn said, pointing at the nearby workstation.

Shepard nodded and started to cutting down the pieces.

_Ugh. An actual hand saw. _

"My dad doesn't know how bad it is." Shawn muttered

"No, he doesn't." Shepard replied.

She wished she could say otherwise … but she couldn't. That kind of ignorance got people killed.

"I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face."

"Was he one of the … walkers?"Shepard asked, hoping for a yes.

_Walkers, what a crude but accurate name._

Before Shawn had arrived at the farm she had asked what the creatures were called. He said he heard someone call them walkers in the city. Good enough name for her.

"I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help. He didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun between this kid's eyes … and pulled the trigger. You don't see things like that. It's not like in the movies."

"Disasters never are."

"So I heard that you had to do it."

"If you mean kill … then yes. I had to crush one's skull in with a hammer, not a very fun experience."

"I'm not sure I could do that."

"You can. It's a lot easier when you realize you aren't just fighting for yourself … but for the people you care about."

"Maybe. I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting other people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there. How about yours? How's your family?"

"Don't really have one other than my boyfriend … and I don't know where he is. He wasn't around here when this all started."

_Technically true. Garrus was on the Normandy._

"I'm sorry."

"Its fine, you didn't offend me. I'm sure he's fine."

Shepard was about to start on a new one when Shawn said "That's probably all I need cut now. Thanks."

Shawn then started to test the fence when Shepard put her hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you for the ride."

"No problem, Shepard. Couldn't leave you behind. Anyway, if you see my dad around, he might want some help in the barn."

"Alright" Shepard replied, already heading towards the barn.

However before she got close she noticed a good corner where no one could see her.

A lot of people still harbored prejudice against biotics so it wasn't smart to be showcases her abilities in front of strangers.

Shepard focused and her biotics started to kick in … but they were not even close to full strength. At best they could cause a person to stumble. Not exactly that useful right now. Especially with how much energy it would take.

Shepard stepped out when she heard Clementine chuckle.

_Should probably check in on her._

Thankfully Clementine seemed alright. Though the dark circles under her eyes suggested she hadn't slept all that well. Shepard was surprised at how well she was doing to be honest.

_Clementine is as tough as they come._

Shepard learned a few interesting things about Katjaa, and her family's survival thus far.

"What is it you do Shepard?"

"I'm a soldier actually. I guess my job hasn't really changed due to this." Shepard said

"Really?"

"Yeah, was on leave when this came down. Just got back from deployment." Shepard lied, sort of. It was mostly a lie. She was a soldier after all.

"I'm sorry. You deserve better than to fight and come home to this."

"I think all of us deserve better than this." Shepard remarked

Shepard said her goodbyes and went back to the farm.

As Shawn had predicted Hershel was in the farm doing some kind of chore.

"Hershel"

He looked up and gave a peculiar look, almost like he was disappointed in her.

_What have I done know?_

"How'd you get out of Atlanta?" asked Hershel as he continued with his work.

"As soon as everything started to go down I tried to rush home to get Clementine. It didn't work out so well … but the accident happened near home. I was able to run home, grab Clementine and get out. Met your son … and you know the rest." Shepard lied calmly.

"Hmm. Well you're no worse for wear." Hershel commented

_I don't like where this is going._

"You got a nice plot here." Shepard remarked; trying to remove some of the tension she could feel starting to form.

"Heh, had you told me twenty years ago I'd still be doing this, I would have told you that you were full of crap. Never was the plan, having a place like this. It was in the family, and I guess so was I. Family's important; it's all that matters. You agree with that?"

"Yeah, I was brought up too. One of the things I actually listened to as a child."

Hershel gave a light chuckle that only a parent with stubborn children would have given at that response.

"Where's your family now? Parents? Husband? Boyfriend?"

"Family is … gone. Have a boyfriend out there somewhere. I hope he's ok." Shepard remarked truthfully, but vaguely.

"Well I hope he's alright."

"But now you've got this little girl to take care of. Clementine, is it? You made it sound like her parents are dead."

"When I got back after the accident the voice mail had a message. It … didn't sound very good."

"Hmmph. Can I give you a piece of advice?"

"Sure."

"I don't know who you are and what you did. Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or things get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, you're going to be in trouble."

"Are you saying that I haven't been honest with you?" Shepard asked

_Well, yes._

"You either have or you're on Hell of a liar."

_The latter._

"And I start checking the attitude, friend." Hershel finished.

That's when a loud noise started, like a machine starting up, followed by a loud scream.

_The tractor! Shawn! Duck!_

"GO! I'll get my gun."

Shepard took one step outside the barn and she could see something moving near Duck and Shawn.

_Walkers_

Shepard burst into a sprint.

When she got close Shepard saw that walkers were trying to get to Shawn through the fence. Shawn was also trapped under the tractor.

And another walker was starting to get near Duck, who was distracted by Shawn's screams.

Thankfully Shepard was able to throw Duck off the tractor before he was grabbed.

Normally Shepard would have just lifted the tractor with her biotics but her earlier test proved that wasn't going to work.

There was a board nearby so Shepard picked it up and smashed it against the walker that was standing up. The board splintered completely on impact, but it didn't manage to kill the walker. Just knock it over.

_SHIT_

Shepard also gave a strong kick to the head on the walker that was crouched down near Shawn.

Again, it knocked it back. But didn't finish it off.

_The gun._

Shepard looked down to remember that she had taken the holster off before she went to sleep.

_IT'S IN THE BARN, FUCK!_

The only other option was to lift up the tractor.

"Kenny! Help Shepard!" Shawn cried

Shepard looked back to see Kenny holding on to Duck.

He then bolted away with Duck in his arms.

_DAMN IT KENNY!_

Shepard position herself at the tractor's front. She heaved.

It started to budge and she managed to lift it enough for Shawn to move.

He did, but not fast enough.

The walkers busted through the fence as Shepard set the tractor down.

Shepard could only watch in horror as one took a deep bite in his leg … the other getting his neck.

That's when a gunshot went off and the one chewing on Shawn's leg died.

The other one was distracted by the noise and then got its bullet too.

Shepard turned back to see Hershel with his gun.

Hershel ran over to Shawn to see if anything could be done.

Shepard knew from personal experience that he wasn't going to make it. She knew Hershel knew it too based on the look of his face.

"I'm ok pop … I'm ok …" Shawn said

"I can fix you, don't worry, we'll stitch you up."

_The lies we tell ourselves and the people we love._

"It almost … almost got me, man. Shepard tried to save me. Almost did too." Shawn said, looking at Shepard

Shepard hung her head, this was her fault.

"I know, son."

"I …" Shawn died before he could finish his sentence.

Shepard heard everyone else walk up behind her.

She looked behind her to see Kenny looking at Shawn with remorse, while Katjaa tried to distract Duck and Clementine.

"Get out." Hershel said; his voice filled with hatred.

He got up, turned around, and then yelled "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Kenny looked at the ground and said "I'm sorry."

"SORRY? Your son is alive. You don't get to be sorry."

Hershel then turned to her.

"You tried to help him, but this piece of shit let him die."

Kenny closed his eyes and looked down in shame.

"It's my fault, if I had remembered to grab my gun …"

"Don't you dare try to take the blame for his mistake. You watch your back. Wait until it's your girl and you need his help. Please, just go. Get out and never come back!" Hershel finished

Shepard turned back to Kenny when he said "You've got that ride if you want it."

Kenny's voice sounded truly grateful. Shepard was glad that she hadn't failed completely today.

They started towards the barn when what appeared to be the rest of Hershel's family bolted out of the house towards Hershel.

Shepard grabbed her things from the barn.

Shepard held up the holster and her pistol.

_I can't forget this ever again._

Shepard put the holster back on.

"Shepard, I need to thank you for what you did."

Shepard looked over her shoulder to see Kenny standing behind her.

"You don't have to thank me."

"Yes, I do. You saved my boy. I saw you get him off the tractor."

"Anytime. We ready to go?"

"Yeah, we're just waiting on you."

Shepard nodded and followed Kenny after double checking to make sure that she didn't leave anything behind.

Shepard got in the back seat, sitting between Duck and Clementine. Clementine leaned against Shepard and quickly fell into an uneasy sleep.

_I'm surprised she can even sleep._

They were an hour out when Shepard had an idea.

"Hey, Kenny. Can I see the map?"

Kenny gave it to her without even asking why.

That was nice; she wouldn't have to lie to him.

Shepard opened the first page of the map book and froze.

It was a map of the United States.

She flipped through the book finding only the same thing, the same impossibility.

This book was a map of the United States. It even had a few pictures of a general map of the other continents in the back.

She was on Earth.

Earth.

The title made things even worse.

Atlas. 2003 edition.

She had been on Earth two days ago fighting Reapers. Now she was fighting the undead 183 years in the past.

_But … but … this never happened!_

Shepard calmly closed the book and handed it back to Katjaa.

_What the fuck happened to me?_

**AN:**

**I Hope you guys enjoyed. As you probably noticed I didn't go straight from the game but neither did I go that far away from it either.**

**As I need to point out now this is not a story that has Shepard saving everyone. That would be just boring, however certain things might be avoided, or caused, because of how powerful Shepard is as an N7 Biotic Vanguard. I'm trying to be real careful to avoid a Mary Sue character here though.**

**I apologize for any errors I didn't catch, as I don't have a beta there will probably be some. **

**I encourage you to review if you wish and/or PM if you have any questions or suggestions. I am hoping to hear plenty of both.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back to Second Chances. I encourage you to review or Pm with any suggestions, questions, or critiques. All of those will be appreciated. **

**AN: I was asked if Shepard had the default ME 3 and the answer is yes. Its what I used and this is my Shepard.**

Second Chances

Chapter 2: A Close Call

The truck came to a slow stop.

"That's as far as she goes." Kenny commented

"It'll have to be enough." Shepard commented

Shepard gently nudged Clementine until she woke up. Thankfully Clementine had actually gotten some sleep during the trip.

Shepard had tried to sleep ... but she would always end up in the forest.

So Shepard spent the entire trip trying to figure out how she was sent back in time to an alternate Earth. She knew the Crucible was to blame but that was all she could figure out. She was a soldier, not a scientist.

Clementine hopped out with Shepard right behind her.

The place was a ghost town. Well … except for the abandoned cars.

_Crap_

There was no way the whole town would have evacuated on its own, and if the military had done it then there would have been signs that they had been here.

There wasn't, and it put Shepard on edge.

However, the rest of her group was more lax.

_Guess I have to be cautious enough for all of us._

Shepard wished her team was here. If they were … Shawn would still be alive for one.

Shepard turned to see a body lying on the ground.

It looked, and smelled, pretty old. It had suffered what appeared to be a single head-shot.

_Oh no_

Everyone was spread out and Shepard was about to get everyone regrouped when Duck yelled "Look!"

Shepard cringed and ran over to the rest of them, who had started to group near Duck.

Shepard could see a lone figure crouched over a prone body … though most of the view was obscured by an overturned car.

_Scavenger or walker?_

"Hey there! You friendly? Truck's run out of gas."

Shepard wanted to smack Kenny upside the head for that.

Especially when it turned and they could see the lack of its left eye ball.

_Damn it!_

"Fuck!" Kenny yelled

_I hope he realizes how stupid that was._

Walkers immediately appeared from everywhere.

_They sure know how to catch the stupid off guard._

Thankfully Shepard didn't forget her weapon this time. She fired a total of five shots. And earned five kills.

"WAHHH! AHH! NO! NO!"

Shepard turned to see Duck pinned under one of them.

CRACK

A woman was standing over Duck with a pistol in hand, and a dead walker at her feet.

"RUN!" Yelled a man with her

Shepard and this woman shot a few more walkers before following the group into what looked like a drugstore.

The man locked the outlying metal gate behind them.

As soon as he was inside she closed the store door.

"We can't take risks like this." Said a woman

Shepard turned to see a few more people in the drug store.

"And we can't just let people die, either." Retorted the woman who saved Duck.

"When I say that door stays shut no matter what I fucking MEAN it! We don't know who these people are they could be dangerous."

The group's leader she guessed … though it looked like she didn't have that much control over the group.

Shepard crossed her arms over her chest.

"Worse they could have led them right to us!" Commented another man. Not the one who said run.

He was an older fellow, but not too old if she had to guess.

_Damn this guy is big._

He looked as big as James. She guessed that he might have had close to as much muscle when he was younger. He was a full head and half bigger than her.

Though this didn't faze her that much, if at all.

She had taken on bigger.

"Where the Hell is your humanity? They would have died out there." asked the woman with the gun.

"We have kids with us, does that not mean anything to you." Shepard interrupted

"I see one little girl." The big man commented

Shepard felt Clementine tap her side.

"Yes?"

"I … I have to pee."

"Go, I'll be here when you get back."

Clementine nodded and headed off towards the back.

"They've got kids, Lily." The Chinese man replied

"Those things outside don't care." Lilly coldly remarked

_A real charmer_

"Then maybe you should go join 'em, then. You'll have something in common!" Kenny retorted

"God damn it Lilly, you have to control these people."

"Carley and Glenn just ran out there." Lilly replied

_At least I know our saviors' names._

"I don't give a flying fuck! We're in a war-zone!"

"She's the leader here. But it looks like she's losing control of her people." Shepard commented over her shoulder to Kenny.

Lilly heard her.

"If you were in my shoes you'd be the-"

"Holy shit" the older man breathed, looking at Katjaa and Duck while he said it.

"Son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!" he yelled

Shepard turned towards Duck. He was fidgeting against his mother's attempts to clean him.

_If he had just lost a chunk of flesh wouldn't he be crying?_

Shepard turned towards the man and calmly replied "No, he wasn't."

"Hell he wasn't!"

"We have to end this now" He stated as he walked towards Duck

Kenny got in the way and replied "Over my dead body."

"We'll dig one hole."

_Wow, this guy is an asshole._

"No, I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!" Katjaa frantically replied

"Don't you fucking people get it? We've already SEEN this happen. We let someone with a bite stay and-and WE all end up bitten!" he yelled

"Shut up!" Kenny retorted

"We gotta throw him out! Or smash his head in!" The man said to his group.

"KENNY! STOP HIM!" Katjaa yelled

"Shepard, what do we do about this guy?"

_We can't afford a shootout in here._

"Dad, it's just a boy."

"Lilly, I'll handle this."

"Dad, your heart. You need to stay calm."

"We reason with him." Shepard replied

"With the bloody end of an ax-handle, maybe! Nobody threatens my boy." Kenny yelled

_Then why did you even ask me if you are just going to resort to violence._

"Everyone CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" Carley yelled

"Nobody is doing ANYTHING!" Lilly interrupted

"Shut up, Lilly!" the Lilly's father barked

He then turned to Carley and said "And YOU. Shut the fuck up. They will find us and they will get in here, and none of this will fucking matter. But right now, we're about to be TRAPPED in here with one of those things."

_Huh?_

"What the Hell are you talkin' about?" Kenny asked

"He's bitten! That's how you TURN!"

"He's not bitten. Shepard, stop this! It's upsetting him!" Katjaa replied

"Calm down, now. Or else." Shepard ordered

"You gonna whoop me princess?" he sneered

Shepard clenched her jaw.

"Little boy! Before you EAT your mommy, you can watch your dad get his nose broken."

"I'm gonna kill him Kat! You just look after Duck."

"Shepard!"

Shepard turned to Clementine.

"Yeah?"

"There's someone in there."

Shepard could see the key lock on the door from where she was.

"It's probably just locked. Check for keys behind the counter." She replied

It's where she'd put the keys after all.

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just looking out for my daughter!"

_I can respect that. Your presentation is atrocious, however._

"No, you're just the guy arguing for killing a kid!" Kenny retorted

"He's covered in muck! She'll find the bite. WATCH!"

"She won't!"

"And if she does?"

As much as Shepard hated to admit it, that was a good question.

"The first thing he'll do is sink his teeth into his mom's face. Then once she's dead he'll probably pounce on your little girl." He said to Shepard

"He's a little boy; if he turns I think we can handle him." Shepard pointed out

"A little boy?! He'll be an uncontrollable man eater!" Lilly's father scoffed.

"It's not going to happen!" Kenny yelled

"It is and we're tossing him out NOW!"

Shepard had enough of this guy.

So she slugged him right across the face.

Hard.

He toppled backwards into one of the shelves, though he quickly recovered.

He threw a punch, a punch that Shepard pivoted around. She grabbed the back of his head with her left hand and his right arm with her right hand.

She slammed his face straight into the counter and pinned his arm behind his back.

"ENOUGH! We have bigger problems right now! If Duck turns we will deal with it, but I firmly believe that he is fine. In the mean time we have a horde outside our very door! So either calm done or I WILL knock you the Hell out! Understood?"

He didn't answer.

She twisted his arm some more.

"UNDERSTOOD!?" She screamed

He mumbled something that sounded like an acknowledgement so she released him.

"AHHH!"

Shepard looked over to see a walker come out of the bathroom and attack Clementine.

"CLEMENTINE!"

Shepard jumped over the counter and threw the walker off her.

Being the relentless idiotic enemy that it was it came straight at her.

She shot it point blank to the head. As expected, it didn't survive.

Shepard turned around slowly towards Lilly and her father.

Everyone had a look on surprise on their faces.

"You bitch to us about bringing someone who COULD be bit and you have a FUCKING WALKER in the bathroom, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!" Shepard screamed

No one had a good enough answer to that one.

That's when the banging started.

Everyone stayed silent and waited …

Then machine gun fire went off at then the banging soon stopped.

Everyone slowly stood up.

"We almost DIED because of this bitch and her fucking trigger finger. That was stupid! That was-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence though as he collapsed, clutching at his chest.

_I heard Lilly say something about heart problems._

"DAD!" Lilly yelled as she ran over.

"Is he going to be ok?" Shepard asked

"It's his heart!" Lilly explained

"My pills …" he mumbled

"Uh-um … nitroglycerin pills?" Katjaa asked

"YES. We're out. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here! Please, try to get in there! Behind the counter, where the pills are!" Lilly begged

"We'll get in there somehow." Shepard replied

"Thank you so much. We need nitroglycerin pills. Please get in there. I'll keep an eye on my dad."

"Everyone else should get comfy and look for anything useful. We could be in here a while." Kenny suggested

"I'm starting to think this drugstore isn't a permanent solution." Glenn added

"You're right, this ain't exactly Ft. Knox."

"What do you have in mind?" Shepard asked Glenn

"We need as much gas as possible so we can ALL get out of downtown Macon. Fast."

"Agreed" Shepard replied

"Then I'll head out and get gas. There's a motel not too far from here, out towards the end of Peachtree. I'll work my way towards it and then loop back, siphoning what I can."

"Are you sure?" Shepard asked

"Well, it's gotta get done. Plus, I'm quick and I know Macon."

"Local?"

"Born and raised."

He was about to head out when Shepard remembered the walkie-talkie.

"Hey, wait take this. Call if you get into trouble."

"Cool."

"Clementine has the other one. Check in with her and get back here as soon as you can."

"What's your name?" Kenny asked looking towards Lilly.

"It's Lilly. My dad's Larry."

"Keep a good eye on him. These people will work on getting you your medicine."

Shepard nodded in agreement.

Shepard turned towards the one person who had been silent this entire time.

"You, we need a lookout. Keep an eye on that door." Shepard said to the short haired blonde.

"It's Doug. You got it."

"And I'm Carley."

"You'll shift in with Doug every so often. I saw your shooting outside. Impressive work. Get some rest and keep it that way." Shepard ordered, shifting back into her role as Commander.

_No retirement for me huh._

"You got it boss." She responded

"I'll work on getting those pills." Shepard said

"Kenny, start looking for anything that could be of use. And if you can find a map of Macon, that would be great. Haven't been here before."

He nodded.

Everyone went off into their assigned roles.

Shepard was not oblivious to the bitter look that Lilly had.

_No one likes to have their command taken away from them. But this group needed to get its shit together._

Shepard took a look around the main room for herself. Even managed to find a couple of energy bars.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Shepard asked Carley

"Well, you don't fuck with a reporter, especially one that's three days out from her last cup of coffee."

_A reporter that's on my side. I'd never thought I'd have seen the day._

"What are you working on?"

"The radio. Can't get it to work though."

"Let me have a look." Shepard replied

Shepard tried the obvious solution. She pushed the power button.

Thankfully it didn't turn on. That would have been embarrassing. So the next step was to check if the thing needed batteries. It did, and there was none.

Shepard looked up.

"Figure it out?"

Shepard turned it around so Carley could see the empty battery holder.

"Um …"

"I'll try to find some for you."

"Thanks. I doubt I would know what to look for." She hastily replied

Doug was keeping watch so she moved on. She'd talk to him later.

"Hey, Shepard. Sure gave that old man a beating." Kenny chuckled

"Yeah. When push comes to shove I start swinging."

"I can tell. You should have seen all of our faces when you pinned him. It was priceless."

"Glad I impressed."

"Duck, Katjaa, and I appreciate your support." Kenny said seriously

"Shepard. Thank you." Katjaa said

Shepard nodded.

"How's Duck."

"He's okay, just the shock." Katjaa replied

"We're lucky as Hell nobody got nabbed getting in here." Kenny noted

"No kidding."

"How's she doing?" Katjaa asked, nodding towards Clementine.

"Her parents are dead and she knows it. So … I don't know. I'm surprised she's doing as well as she is."

"She's a tough one."

"She's just a little girl Ken."

"Shepard, didn't you say that she spent DAYS surviving on her own?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Not just any little girl can do that. I think she'll be fine … eventually."

"I sure hope so, she deserves better than this." Shepard replied

"How are you all doing?" Shepard asked

"We've all been through a lot." Katjaa remarked

"Shepard, you got a second?"

"Yeah, Kenny."

Shepard and Kenny got some distance from everyone.

"Back on Hershel's farm … I panicked, you know. I'm not proud of it."

"It happens, Kenny."

"I guess, but I can't stop seeing him in my head." Kenny said, unconvinced

_I know how you feel._

"I killed that boy. We could have saved him together."

"Kenny, it's not your fault. Panic hits everyone hard."

"Not you. You managed to save Duck, and you almost saved Shawn."

"Kenny, I'm Special Forces. I'm trained to deal with panic. I've been through Hell like that before. That was your first glimpse. Everyone panics the first time. You need to let it go."

Kenny looked surprised.

"Geez, are you serious. Black ops, that kind of thing?"

"Yeah"

"I'm glad you're here then. At least someone knows what the Hell they're doing."

Shepard nodded, and put her hand on his shoulder before he could leave.

"Kenny, none of that was your fault. Hopefully, you can believe me eventually."

Kenny nodded glumly and walked away.

Shepard went to Clementine.

"You doing alright?" Shepard asked

"I guess."

Shepard frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Clementine asked

"I'm just worried, that's all."

"About?"

"You."

Clementine looked away.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"I don't blame you. Just know that if you ever want to talk I'll be here."

Clementine nodded.

Shepard gave her a small smile.

"Oh, I found this for you." Shepard said, handing her one of the snack bars.

Clementine's face lit up instantly.

"Thanks!"

Shepard remembered that she had one more so she passed it along to Duck. Kenny and Katjaa were grateful.

It was time to go look for a way inside the pharmacy. There was a door that was labeled office. It seemed like a good place to start.

"Can I come with you?"

Shepard looked down to see Clementine next to her.

_She is surprisingly quiet._

"Sure." Shepard replied

Clementine grabbed a hold of Shepard's hand. Shepard couldn't help but smile.

The office had a bloody bed in the corner.

_Poor people_

The door to the pharmacy was blocked, but nothing that wasn't movable. There were a few objects of note that Shepard had taken note of it.\

She moved to the desk.

Shepard was about to start moving it when Clementine stopped her.

"Can I help?" asked Clementine

_How many times have I heard that in the last few years? Probably less than twenty times to be honest._

"Sure, just watch your fingers."

Shepard grabbed the left side of the desk.

They pulled a bit together.

"Things have been scary, huh?"

"Yeah … It's not good. I don't know why everyone is crazy."

"Neither do I. I bet no one does."

Clementine opened her mouth to speak then clamped it shut.

Clementine grunted as she struggled to carry her half.

"Do you have kids?"

"No" Shepard replied

"You don't have a family?"

Shepard was quiet for a second.

"You play any sports Clementine?"

"Yeah, I play soccer but I don't really like it. You didn't answer my question."

_Perceptive little girl._

Shepard started to push the table to the side.

"Why don't you want to talk about your family? Do they like … hate you."

_I wouldn't blame them._

"My family … died. My mom, dad, and my little brother and sister were murdered when I was sixteen. I saw the whole thing hiding up in a tree." Shepard replied, closing her eyes as the memory rushed back.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"You didn't know."

"I'm just sorry for being mean." Clementine explained, looking at the floor when she was done.

Shepard crouched down.

"Clementine"

She didn't look up.

Shepard gently put her hand under Clementine's chin and forced her to look at her.

"You weren't being mean and I didn't get angry at you."

Clementine had this sad look in her eye.

She put her arms around Shepard's neck and hugged her.

Clementine didn't say anything, but she did rub little circles in Shepard's back just like she had when Clementine realized her parents died.

Shepard had to admit she was touched by the action.

"Thanks" Shepard replied once Clementine let go.

Clementine nodded and took her position by her side of the table.

They gave it one last push when Clementine yelled out in pain.

Clementine held out her finger in front of her. Shepard could see the blood coming down the side.

"You okay?"

"I hurt my finger."

Shepard lifted Clementine onto the table.

"Let me see." Shepard said, holding out her hand.

The finger had a minor cut at the end. It really wasn't that bad but they would still need to do something about it.

"I'll go find a bandage."

It didn't take long as she had spotted a first aid it earlier.

As one would expect the first aid kit had a bandage. Unfortunately the kit was out of about everything else.

Before Shepard turned to leave she spotted a remote.

She checked for its batteries, pleased to find them.

Shepard pointed it at the TV and pushed the power button. It turned on but all the channels were static. It wasn't that surprising really.

She just turned it back off.

"Let's get this covered up."

"Yes, please."

Shepard wrapped the bandage around Clementine's finger.

"Better?"

"Yes" Clementine replied before jumping off the table.

The doorway was clear but the door was going to be a problem.

It was reinforced, no doubt to keep junkies from sneaking into the pharmacy when the owners weren't looking.

The window might be smash-able but that would make a lot of noise. And noise was not their friend right now.

Another problem with that plan was that the only thing they had to smash in the window was an old wooden cane.

"Do you think the owner was sick?" Clementine asked when Shepard picked up the cane.

"Maybe, but I think that the owner was just old."

"How do you know?"

"I found a family picture."

Shepard handed Clementine the family picture.

"Oh"

Shepard might be able to smash in the glass with her hand but that would hurt … and waste medical supplies.

Shepard turned back to Clementine and asked "You want to go back in the drugstore? It doesn't look like we can do anything more here."

"I have a question?"

"Oh, what is it?" Shepard replied

"Is Shepard really your name?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Shepard asked, tilting her head to the side in a questioning nature.

"Well, it just seems like a strange name. There's Larry, Lilly, Kenny, Katjaa, Glenn, and Carley. Shepard just seems … weird."

"Honey, that's because it's my last name." Shepard chuckled

"Oh" Clementine said, looking away in embarrassment.

"If you promise to keep it a secret … I'll tell you my first name." Shepard said light-heartedly

Clementine turned back towards Shepard.

"Promise?" Shepard asked

"Promise"

"It's Jane."

"Jane, why do you keep it a secret?"

"I don't actually care, I was just joking. I'm just used to Shepard."

"Why?"

"Well I was in the military ever since I was eighteen. In the military you usually get called your rank then followed by your last name. So for example I am usually called Commander Shepard."

"Really?"

"Yeah, to be honest I doubt that more than a few dozen people alive today know my first name. Even fewer than that actually use it."

"Can I?"

"Of course. Ready?"

Clementine nodded.

Nothing really had changed outside though.

Kenny was able to find Shepard a map, however.

Shepard was reading it when Clementine tapped her on the side.

Shepard looked down to see Clementine holding out the walkie-talkie to her.

_Glenn_

"It's Shepard. Something wrong?"

"So … I'm down at that motor inn and, well, I'm stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Yeah, I, uh, saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of the roaming ones got the jump on me. I'm hiding over here but they won't leave." Glenn explained

"What's up?" Kenny asked

"Glenn's trapped down at the motor inn." Shepard replied

Turning her attention back to Glenn she said "Glenn we're going to figure out a plan and send a group to come get you."

"Phew, awesome. I'll sit tight 'til then."

"Be there soon."

Shepard turned towards Clementine.

"Hey I need to borrow this until we can save Glenn."

Clementine nodded.

"What do you think?" Kenny asked

"I think Carley is the best one for direct fights here. You stay here with your family and guard everyone. I'll be back soon."

"If that's what you want to do." Kenny said, sounding just a bit disappointed.

"I'm in." Carley replied

"Good. We better get moving." Shepard responded

"Let me know when you want to leave. I could use a jog." Carley stated

Shepard nodded.

"Jane"

Shepard looked at Clementine and asked "Yes?"

"Please be careful."

"I promise." Shepard said with a small smile.

Clementine nodded.

Shepard and Carley took the back way out.

It took half an hour to get there but it would have been a lot worse if she didn't have that map.

They were closing in when Shepard heard the guttural moans of one of the walkers. Shepard pulled herself and Carley down behind a wall.

Just in time too, Shepard could hear the things footsteps, which slowly walked away from them.

"Close" Shepard muttered

"Thanks"

"No problem"

The pair stood back up.

"Wait did you see that?" Carley asked, pointing towards an ice chest.

"What?"

"The top moved."

"Alright, get ready." Shepard said, moving to open the door.

Shepard held out her hand and counted down.

_Three … two … one _

She opened the door to find a hidden Glenn inside.

"Oh man, I'm glad you're here."

"Jesus, Glenn!" Carley whispered

"Well that was easy." Shepard noted

"Can we get out of here before any of these things notice us?" Carley half asked half demanded

"Not yet. There's a survivor trapped up there." Glenn said, pointing at one of the doors on the second floor.

"No way, we gotta go. NOW." Carley insisted

"LISTEN, I was out looking for gas. And then, up there in the corner room, I heard crying coming from inside."

"Who is it?" Shepard asked

"It's a girl. We talked and she got frightened. I was trying to get in and help her and she started yelling and saying I was bitten. I tried to convince her I wasn't and that's when all these guys came out of the forest. A couple almost got me, and I ended up hiding in the ice machine."

"Lucky you; now let's go!" Carley said

"We can't just leave her." Glenn argued

"You're right." Shepard agreed

"You guys are suicidal." Carley objected

"I'm saving her, with or without you." Glenn replied

Shepard turned to Carley.

"Wasn't it suicidal coming to save my group?"

"Obviously not" Carley said, trying to resist this line of reasoning

"What makes her different than us?"

Carley was quiet for a moment.

"Fine. Let's go save Glenn's damsel in distress."

"Alright, since we don't know how hard it's going to get her out of that room, we have to kill all of them … quietly. No guns."

Carley sighed.

From the wall they had moved to Shepard could see a pillow around the corner.

Shepard quickly grabbed it.

"Good luck smothering them to death." Carley noted sarcastically

Shepard looked over towards an RV. It would be good enough cover if they could get to it.

"Follow me."

Glenn and Carley nodded.

They took off in a crouched sprint.

They surprisingly made it.

Shepard leaned out the side when she heard "Really Glenn" come from Carley.

Shepard turned back to see a flustered Glenn staring at what apparently was an interesting spot on the ground and Carley shaking her head disappointingly.

It took Shepard less than a moment to figure out that he had been staring at her ass.

Shepard sighed, and Glenn winced when she figured it out.

Shepard nodded back towards the wall they had come from. There was nothing they could do here.

They quickly made it back.

There was a truck further down so the three made their way over to it.

Inside the truck was a screwdriver.

"I think that would be a good, silent, weapon," Shepard muttered

"Now we have to get to it. Door's locked." Glenn pointed out.

Bashing out the window would make too much noise.

However there was one problem Shepard realized they could deal with. There was a walker sitting down against a car in front of them. They could use the pillow as a muffler.

"Carley, follow my lead."

She nodded.

Shepard pinned the walker down, the pillow also doing well to muffle the walker's moans.

Carley stuck her pistol up to the pillow and fired.

It worked, none of the walkers seemed to notice.

"That was sick!" Glenn quietly exclaimed

The window to the driver's seat was already knocked out.

Shepard reached in and opened the door.

There was nothing inside.

Shepard looked at the gear shift. It looked just like the Mako's.

Shepard reached in switched the gear shift around until the car started to slowly move.

That's when Shepard noticed something on the driver's seat. It was a tiny little mechanical part.

"That's a sparkplug. Hold on to it." Glenn said

Shepard nodded.

Shepard started to push the car … straight towards the unsuspecting walker towards one of the rooms.

It hit dead center.

The walker thrashed around but the others paid it no mind.

The three survivors got back to the truck.

"Hey, give me the sparkplug." Glenn said

Shepard handed it to him.

Glenn proceeded to step on it.

"The porcelain inside these things turns car windows into tissue paper." Glenn explained, as he handed the porcelain to Shepard.

Glenn was right, the window broke with barley a sound. Shepard picked up the screwdriver.

The three made it back towards the wall corner where you could make it to the RV.

Unfortunately they must have been too loud as the walker near the RV got up.

"Shit" whispered Carley, as she pulled out her pistol

"No, I got this." Shepard whispered

As soon as the walker could be seen over the wall Shepard pulled it over the wall, and stabbed it through the skull before it could react.

"That was amazing." Glenn whispered

Shepard chuckled.

Shepard moved towards the RV.

There was one more walker around the corner, but it was alone.

Shepard sent out a whistle.

The walker slowly approached.

As soon as the walker got close she rammed the screwdriver straight through its eye socket.

It went down without a sound.

The walker trapped by the car was an easy kill too, though she lost her screwdriver to it.

"Where'd you weapon go?"

"Into that ice pick sized hole in his head." Shepard chuckled

"Sick" Glenn whispered

"You two done?" Carley remarked

"It's cool, now we have this." Glenn said, pointing at the ax

Shepard picked it up.

"This'll work."

All the walkers were dead, on the ground floor anyway.

_Two left_

"Hey, keep back just in case this doesn't work out so well."

They nodded, though not with much enthusiasm.

Shepard slowly made her way up the stairs, wary of creaky stairs. Thankfully that wasn't a problem.

She looked back down at the pair.

She caught Glenn staring again. His face looked liked it had caught on fire, it was so red.

She returned to the task of fighting walkers. Shepard got the jump on the one on the left, it went down without a fight.

The second one noticed and advanced.

Shepard took the damn thing's head off.

"Rad" Glenn whispered from down below.

When Glenn and Carley made it upstairs Shepard knocked on the door.

"Hello? We're here to help." Shepard said strongly, making sure the sound went through the door.

No answer.

"Guys, we should go." Carley stated

"In a minute." Shepard replied, brushing Carley off for the moment.

Shepard turned to the door.

"We have a group in town. If you open the door you can come with us, it'll be safer." Shepard explained

"NO! NO! NO!"

"She's in trouble!" Glenn noted

"We're coming in." Shepard told the woman

Shepard axed the beam across the door, but when she tried to open the door it still refused to budge.

Shepard gave it a hard kick. It budged but the door still held, however a few more kicks would finish the job.

"Stop, just stop. I'm coming out." The woman replied

The woman slowly opened the door.

_She looks pretty pale_

Shepard noticed the wound on her side after she fully emerged.

"You're hurt." Shepard noted

"Oh God." Carley gasped

"I … I said stay away." the woman weakly replied

"We need to get you help." Shepard said

"It's too late for me."

"Guys, she's been bitten." Carley noted

"What!?" Glenn exclaimed

"I told you. I said go away, I'm bit. But you wouldn't just leave."

"Calm down, you could be fine." Shepard said

"I won't be fine. My boyfriend was bitten. You get sick and you die and you come back and you kill anything you can find."

A moment of silence passed before Glenn ended it the worst way possible.

"You have a boyfriend?"

Shepard shot him a very nasty glare.

"Glenn" Carley sneered

Either the lady didn't hear or she didn't care.

"I don't want that. It's not Christian. Please, just leave me, please go."

"Come with us, we can find help." Shepard asked

The woman stared at Shepard's holster.

"You have a gun."

_Please don't ask that. Please._

"So?" Carley asked, oblivious to the woman's meaning.

"Can I … borrow it?"

"What do you mean 'borrow'?" Carley said

_Is it not obvious?_

"Give it to me. I can just, you know, end this and then – then there's no problem."

"Whoa whoa whoa." Carley said, taking a step back.

"PLEASE! I don't want to be one of them. They're … they're … satanic." the woman begged

To be honest the wound didn't look that great. Even if it wasn't a bite she would probably die anyway. Shepard really didn't see any choice. Plus it was the woman's choice to make.

Shepard pulled out her pistol.

Carley however got in the way before Shepard could pass on the gun.

"What, you can't be serious?!" Carley asked

"Move" Shepard said sternly

"NO!" Carley yelled in objection

"Look at her, Carley. There isn't a happy ending here. The best we can do is help her end her suffering." Shepard explained

Carley looked down at the ground.

"Alright, fine."

Carley moved and Shepard gave the girl her gun.

"Thank you so much, I know how terrible this must be." The girl sobbed

"We can't watch this, let's go." Glenn said sadly

"We can't go yet." Carley replied

"WHAT?! Why not?"

"Because someone needs to pick up the gun. Can't leave it. This was my choice, you two get back to the car." Shepard said

"Ok" Glenn said before making his way back to the car.

"You sure?" Carley asked

Shepard nodded.

Carley left.

That just left the girl and her.

"I'm here for you."

"You're a good person, thank you."

She put the barrel of the gun up to her head.

"Goodbye." Shepard whispered

"G-Goodbye." The woman replied

She pulled the trigger.

Shepard sighed sadly.

_Poor girl_

Shepard picked up her gun and holstered it.

Glenn and Carley were already in the car. Carley was behind the wheel.

The ride back was unbearably silent, but Shepard didn't say anything. She didn't have the right to ask for small talk after asking for that.

When they got back Kenny was waiting for them.

"You guys ok?" he asked

"We're fine" Shepard muttered as a response.

"I've got a couple of gallons of gas for your pick-up in the trunk of my car." Glenn told Kenny

"Good to hear it."

"And things back here?" Carley asked

"Quiet. Our 'friend' is still in and out over there. He won't survive anymore stress." Kenny replied

"Then I guess we need to get into that pharmacy next."

Shepard took a second look around the pharmacy. She found a couple of batteries for the radio and gave them to Carley.

"How's it look out there?" Shepard asked Doug

"Not too bad. Want to go outside for a look?"

"I'm not suicidal yet." Shepard jokingly replied

"The front gate is still locked. Should be fine if we stay quiet."

"Alright then, let's go."

Shepard noted that Doug had a strange idea of 'not too bad'. The place was swarming with walkers.

"Damn they're everywhere." Shepard whispered

The pair watched in horror as the walkers consumed a corpse.

"I think it's going to take more than a couple of days to fix this." Doug commented

"Yeah" Shepard mumbled

There was a pregnant silence as they both considered the ramifications of that statement.

"So how'd you get here?" Shepard asked

"I moved here to live with my uncle. He does tech stuff and it just made sense."

"So you know the people that live around here then?"

"No, not really. I've only been here a couple of months and I spend a lot of time …"

"On the computer?"

"No. Just, doing my own thing. What about you?"

"Clementine and I were catching a ride with Kenny. They were on their way back to Fort Lauderdale. Truck ran out of gas … and then we met you guys."

"Alright."

Shepard was about to take a final look when she saw him.

It was the kid in scrubs in the family picture … or what was left of him trapped under a telephone pole.

"I think the keys are on that guy over there." Shepard said to Doug, pointing to him.

"How do you know?"

Shepard handed him the family picture.

"Oh. Nice catch. But what happens if it's with the one on the left?"

"We'll have to break the door down then."

If that man didn't have the keys there was a good chance Larry wouldn't get the meds he needed.

"What do you think of everyone in there?" Shepard asked

"Oh … well, Carley is pretty nice, you know."

Shepard agreed.

"Lilly doesn't take any crap. She's been running the show, keeping people on watch, things like that. And her dad …"

"Yeah, him."

"He's kind of a dick. Pardon my French."

"No kidding. What do you think of the people that came with me? Don't worry you can say anything you want. I won't hold it against you."

"I feel bad for the kids. Duck and … Clementine, right?"

"Yes"

"I can't even imagine what that's like."

"No kidding."

"I worry about Kenny though. He gets pretty angry when some diplomacy would solve the problem."

_I agree. Man has a temper._

"Yeah, I agree with what you said. Thanks for your opinion."

Doug nodded.

Shepard had an idea.

"Doug, I'll be right back. Stay here. I have an idea."

"Alright, don't take too long."

Shepard ran back into the office and grabbed the remote she had used earlier. When she brought it back she tried to turn on the TVs. Didn't work.

"Think you can do anything with this?" Shepard asked Doug

"You know what I could do …"

"Yes?"

"It's universal; I could program it to work with those TVs across the street. Let's just hope the power is still on." Doug said while he tinkered with the remote.

"You can do that?"

"I memorized all the codes when I was in AV. Let's try."

He pointed it at the TVs and hit the power button.

It worked.

"Well done Doug." Shepard said while she patted him on the back.

Several nearby walkers turned to look at the TVs.

It didn't hold their attention long.

Shepard looked around for something she could throw at the glass.

There was a brick near the gate. A little far out of her reach.

"Can we get that gate unlocked?"

"We don't know the combination to that lock."

Shepard sighed, "Of course."

_Well I still have the ax. I bet that can cut it._

Shepard stood up and readied her ax, and swung.

Shepard barley opened the gate and then grabbed the brick.

She waited until none of the walkers were watching her, then she threw it straight at the glass. It shattered.

Even better the walkers all swarmed the TVs.

"I'll be back."

"I'll keep watch."

Shepard carefully made her way across the street to the kid. He was a walker. Poor bastard was trapped.

She axed the poor kid out of his misery.

As she had guessed he had the keys on him.

She showed the keys to Doug.

"HOLY CRAP! RUN!" Doug yelled

Of course just as she got the keys the walkers saw her.

She sprinted right back inside. They closed the door and waited a few seconds.

As soon as the danger had passed Shepard said to Lilly "We've got the keys."

"Great! God, you're amazing. Let's get in there."

Shepard and Lilly walked into the office, where Shepard opened the pharmacy door.

A few seconds later some kind of alarm went off.

Shepard swore under her breath.

"Oh no …" Lilly mumbled

Lilly and Shepard grabbed what they could.

* * *

"I need to get my dad out of here!" Lilly yelled out to Kenny before taking her dad out through the back.

"Honey, take Duck into the office and barricade the living Hell out of the door behind me. Glenn, when you hear me honking in the alley start getting people out of here." Kenny started screaming

"The rest of you make sure he defenses stay up until then."

Everyone nodded.

"Shepard, I'd better take that ax in case I run into any trouble."

Shepard tossed him the ax.

Shepard heard the gate open.

"Guys, that door isn't not locked anymore!" Doug explained

"I'll get back as fast as I can!" Kenny yelled as he was leaving.

Shepard turned back to Clementine.

"Stay back from the windows."

Clementine nodded her agreement.

"Glenn, we need your help! Please hurry!" Katjaa said from the office.

Shepard took Glenn's spot on the door.

"Shepard if we don't …"

"WE ARE GOING TO MAKE IT!" Shepard screamed

"Doug, if we don't make it through this, you should know-"Carley started to say.

The door nearly burst open, causing Shepard to stumble away from the door.

She threw her entire weight against the door. It shut.

"I should know what?!" Doug yelled

"Huh"

"You said I should know-"

The shelf blocking the window to the left of the door collapsed. Letting some of the walkers in.

Carley started to open fire.

Shepard focused on keeping the door shut.

"I'm on it." Carley said

She ran off.

"Clementine!" Shepard called out

Clementine ran over to her.

"Can you look for something to stick in-between the handles!? Something real strong, ok?!"

"Ok!"

Clementine ran off to find something.

The walkers knocked her off the door again.

She pushed back hard. The door closed.

"Did you find something?!" Shepard yelled

"Nothing! Oh wait!"

Clementine ran off again.

"That window is SCREWED!" Doug said pointing at the window right to the door.

"GO!" Shepard yelled back

Shepard had to knock the door back into place again.

"I found something!"

It was the old cane.

_Good enough_

Shepard slipped it in-between the handles.

It seemed to hold.

Then both Carley and Doug started to scream out for help.

_Doug is great with tech, a skill no one else has. Carley is a great shot. We need as many people like that as possible. Carley has a gun on her. Doug has nothing on him at the moment.  
_

These thoughts had been processed by Shepard in less than a heartbeat.

"Carley. CATCH!" Shepard yelled as she tossed Carley her own weapon.

Carley caught it.

Shepard was able to pull Doug off of the window.

Kenny burst through the door at that moment.

"Let's go."

They didn't need to be told twice.

Shepard followed Doug and Carley towards the door.

"JANE!"

Shepard turned to see Clementine being grabbed by a walker.

There were dozens right behind her.

Carley still had her weapon. There wasn't time to get it back.

Shepard sprinted back for Clementine.

Shepard brought her foot down hard repeatedly on the walker attacking Clementine crushing its skull.

Shepard lifted Clementine to her feet.

When they turned around to leave they discovered that walkers had gotten in behind them somehow.

Shepard lifted Clementine onto her back.

"Clementine … hold on no matter what, and I need you to trust me no matter what."

Clementine grabbed hold.

Shepard crouched down and started to charge her biotics.

The walkers got closer and closer.

Shepard could hear Clementine whimpering but she did not let go.

As soon as they got within a foot Shepard released her saved up energy in a Nova.

Nothing was left standing. But more importantly Clementine was still holding onto her.

Clementine gasped

"Hold on, sweetie."

Clementine held on just a little tighter.

Shepard bolted towards the office.

The back door was partially blocked with a cabinet, with walkers crawling over what was left.

Shepard raised her arm and used the last of her biotic power to channel an area of effect slam.

It splintered the blockage into tiny little pieces, as well as the walkers.

Shepard bolted out of the drugstore, going as fast as she possibly could.

There were walkers outside waiting for them.

_Damn it, why is no one guarding this alley._

Shepard used one of the fragments of the cabinet to knock her way through the walkers in the alleyway.

It got easier after that as it was a straight shot where the cars were supposed to be.

Shepard turned the corner to see the cars leave.

_NO!_

Clementine gasped.

Shepard took off in a sprint to the right.

The plan that was hastily said before everything went down was to meet at the motel. Shepard remembered the path there, thankfully.

They still had a chance.

Shepard tore through the alleyway, just avoiding the walkers if she could. There was no way she would be able to fight without any weapons.

Shepard and Clementine lucked out. Most of the walkers that they passed were on the street … heading towards the drugstore.

After about ten minutes it appeared that they had gotten past the horde.

They were as safe as they were going to be.

Shepard put Clementine down.

"I'm scared." Clementine whispered

"Me too, Clem."

The pair continued on in silence.

The trip to the motel was a slow one as Clementine was too tired to move quickly.

It was a good two hours before they finally made it to the motel.

Clementine almost collapsed on the way there so Shepard had carried her for the last hour.

Shepard was right outside when she heard an argument.

_Not surprised._

"WHY! WHY THE FUCK DID WE DO THAT?!" Shepard heard Carley shout.

Clementine stirred almost immediately. Appeared she didn't sleep deeply anymore.

Shepard helped Clementine down.

"We didn't have a choice." Lilly replied

"Maybe if you hadn't abandoned ship so early she could still be alive." Carley sneered

All the little sounds of activity stopped.

_That hit a nerve._

"How DARE you call my daughter a coward, BITCH!" Larry screamed

"Well I didn't see your daughter ever fight. She was stayed with you the entire night. I don't even think she has even seen a walker tonight."

This was going to get ugly fast.

"What the Hell were we supposed to do?" Lilly asked

"What about wait about two more minutes." Shepard called out

Somehow it got softer than complete silence.

Shepard turned the corner to see the complete surprise of the entire group.

Shepard gave everyone a long bitter stare.

Almost everyone squirmed under her stare, usually quickly discovering a very interesting pebble or piece of dirt.

Unsurprisingly, Larry held her stare.

She was convinced that he was a man that used to be in the military, most likely someone of command. Not just because he could hold her gaze but just by the way he acted.

That didn't mean she respected him anymore for it. In fact the opposite was true.

Never leave a man behind.

It was an ideal that she had always tried to live up to.

It seemed to be an ideal that he had forgotten.

"SO WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" Shepard screamed

No one answered.

"Doug and Carley left when all of a sudden walkers POURED through the back door. What happened?" Shepard snapped

If she had been by herself she would have been a little irritable but nothing this bad.

But the second that you endangered the people that she cared about. Well … it got ugly.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Shepard screamed again

Again no answer. At least not a vocal one.

The true answer was simple. They panicked and in their panic Shepard and Clementine were left behind.

Shepard started to laugh.

Everyone took a subconscious step back, well all except Clementine who stood right next to her.

"It's so simple. You all got scared. Well guess what? I'M SCARED TOO! But I didn't abandon ANY of you, even when I could, maybe should have. But just be warned, the next time that anything like this happens again I. AM. GONE. I will not be there to pull you from the window, or throw you a gun, or save your child, or save your dad … I will take Clementine and go. Because no matter what YOU do, you will NOT kill me or HER." Shepard yelled

Again silence was her only answer.

Shepard stormed off towards one of the nearest rooms not giving a damn about the apologetic looks she was been given, she was not in the mood for it. Shepard slammed the door behind her.

Shepard had only been gotten in such a foul mood once before. That was after Admiral Han'Gerrel had the Geth dreadnought destroyed … while she was inside.

That had been a very bad day.

Shepard didn't care if it was her life at risk, it was when others put the people she cared about at risk. To Shepard, that was unacceptable.

Shepard heard the door squeak open.

Shepard turned around to tell the offending person to get the Hell out.

But it was a teary eyed Clementine.

"I-I'm sorry. P-Please don't hate me."

Shepard's jaw hit the floor. Thankfully Shepard was able to compose herself before Clementine left.

"Clem … come here."

Clementine did as she was asked.

Clementine hopped onto the bed right next to Shepard.

"Clem, I wasn't getting mad at you. I'm sorry if I made you think that."

"It's my fault. If I didn't get grabbed, none of that would have happened."

"Clem, it's not your fault,

I promise. And no matter what happens I will always come back for you. No matter what." Shepard said while patting Clementine's leg lightly.

"Will you forgive them?"

Shepard sighed "Yeah, and I don't really blame them for leaving me behind. I DO blame them for leaving you behind. That's why I'm so angry."

Clementine crawled into Shepard's lap.

"I have a question."

_I knew this was coming._

"What happened … in the drugstore?" she asked

Shepard sighed.

"Clementine … will you promise me that you will never talk about that, to anyone?"

Clementine nodded.

Shepard rolled down the sleeve to her shirt. She took Clementine's hand and traced it down the small scars that Project Lazarus left on her body.

They had healed but Shepard could always feel the cybernetics underneath them. Something that she just had to get used too.

"What are those?"

Shepard smiled.

_A very perceptive girl._

"They're … wires, sort of. They're implants, machines underneath my skin. I have them all over my body. They do a lot of … interesting things."

_Such as heat up when I start to get angry._

Shepard had felt them start to warm when she gave her rant to the rest of the group.

"Like that blue stuff?"

"Yeah, they let me use those powers."

It wasn't completely accurate but it was mostly true. The implants didn't truly power the biotics but they did let her focus the energy enough so that she could actually use them.

"Can you do that more?"

"I'm not sure. It takes up a lot of energy. Plus I'm not sure if the group would really approve."

Clementine looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"People tend to be afraid of the unknown, and people do stupid things when they're afraid."

"Like what happened tonight?"

"Exactly." Shepard said with an approving smile.

They sat in a comfortable silence.

The door creaked open again.

This time it was Carley at the door.

She didn't make eye contact with Shepard, but she did with the floor.

"Shepard … I wanted to apologize for what happened."

Shepard didn't reply.

"You saved my life … and then I ran, like a coward. I promise that will never happen again."

"I know."

"Just know that you have my thanks … and your back."

Shepard nodded.

Either minutes past or hours did before Shepard spoke again.

"So I guess this is your room. I'll go-"

Clementine grabbed her hand.

"Please don't go."

Shepard nodded.

At first Shepard slept in the bed closer to the door and Clementine in the one further into the room. That changed after Clementine had nightmares and crawled in next to Shepard.

Shepard had to admit that she liked having Clementine so close.

The rational part of her mind would scream that she was trying to replace Clementine's parents so she could feel like she had a daughter. Espically since she hadn't known Clementine for more than a couple of days.

She conceded that she was probably doing that.

However Shepard always wanted to have a child, and Clementine probably wanted a parent right now. Was that so wrong?

_She's a grieving scared little girl, and you're using her to get what you want._

Shepard just ignored logic after that.

She felt like she had earned a lot for what she had to endure. She felt like she deserved this, no matter how selfish it was.

Shepard slowly awoke to feel a little body stretching next to her.

Shepard looked down to see Clementine sleepily stretching.

It was an adorable sight.

"Sleep well?"

Clementine nodded.

"Come on, let's see what's going on." Shepard suggested

The pair hopped out of bed and went through the door.

Everyone was working outside, most starting to work of some sort of barricade at the entrance of the parking lot.

Everyone looked like they half expected her to take Clementine and go. But as she had said last night that was what happened next time.

As Shepard started working on the barricade she couldn't help but smile.

Everything was going to be all right. They had food, water, and power. It was going to be safer.

* * *

**We finished episode one. I just wanted to inform you that I'm not going straight to episode two yet, I'm going to write out some of the three month skip. Some of it ,not all, not sure how much yet. **

**Some of you might be wondering why I saved both Doug and Carley. Mainly it was a chance to show Shepard's quick-trained thinking that she has, plus it would have been impossible for Shepard not to save both of them while she had her pistol. Don't worry as I said last chapter this is not Shepard saves everyone. In fact she almost lost Clementine as the walkers since they didn't have something to feed on and distract a few of the walkers. It was a price Shepard almost paid. Next time I doubt everyone involved will be so lucky, in fact I can guarantee it. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back to Second Chances. I hope all of you enjoy and I apologize for any spelling and grammatical mistakes that I did not catch.**

Second Chances

Chapter Three: Dreams and Reality

* * *

**Shepard's POV**

It had been a month since the group had stablished themselves at the Motel, and so far it was an easy ride.

Not many walkers ventured beyond the city, which implied that something kept them interested there.

Probably survivors that didn't have the ability or will to get out.

It was very fortunate for Shepard and Clementine, as distasteful as that sounded.

The Motel had one weakness though.

It lacked food.

The group had been raiding wherever they could, but Shepard knew that their line of thinking was flawed.

They were searching places where everyone would think to look, which meant that it usually was already stripped.

Shepard rechecked the food count list.

_A half box of apples, ten cans of beans, five gallons of water, plus several bottles of cheap wine._

"_Best I could afford on a vigilante's salary."_

The corners of Shepard's lips curled into a small smile.

Once she relived that memory she sighed. There was almost no food here. They needed to find something … soon.

But more importantly they needed to find food in quantity.

They needed to check somewhere that no one would have searched yet … or was too dangerous to search normally. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Shepard sighed.

Shepard walked outside.

She could see Clementine and Duck playing soccer. If she had to guess, Clementine was winning. Clementine always won.

Shepard slowly walked through the compound.

Kat and Kenny were looking at a map, most likely trying to figure out the food issue as well. And at a different corner of the lot Lilly and Larry were looking at another map, likely over the same issue.

Carley was on watch, with the one rifle they had. Doug was checking the fence for weaknesses.

Shepard approached Kenny's table first as it was the closer one.

"How are you guys?" Shepard asked

"Not bad, but we are a little worried." Katjaa explained

"Yeah, me too. You guys have any ideas?"

"Other than just doing the normal gathering, no." Kenny replied

"Alright, tell me if you come up with everything."

"Will do." Kenny replied

Shepard took a seat near Clementine and Duck.

She could tell Clementine was going easy on Duck, but it still didn't really do anything for him. Clementine was surprisingly talented for just an eight-year old.

Eventually the two called it quits.

Clementine walked over and climbed into Shepard's lap.

"Hey Jane" Clementine said

"Hi Clem"

Shepard stroked her hand through Clem's hair.

"Are we going to run out of food?"

The adults all had a private meeting to make sure Clementine and Duck didn't worry. Of course it seemed that Clementine found out anyway.

"Did you listen in on that meeting a few days ago?"

"I listened through the crack under the door."

Shepard chuckled.

"You aren't mad at me?"

"No, I suppose I should have expected that. Though there was a reason we did that you know. But going back to your first question, I won't let that happen."

Clementine nodded and leaned into Shepard.

It was just your ordinary day really. No walkers came close to the Motel, no shouting or gunshots were heard either.

Every now and then one could hear another group getting shred to pieces. It was unsettling to say the least. Shepard always covered Clem's ears when it started. She didn't want Clem to worry.

_Like I can hide anything from her._

This wasn't the first time Clem heard something Shepard didn't want her to hear. It was incredible how resourceful this little girl was. It was almost unnerving at times.

_If only she was a little older. The things that could be done around here. _

"Jane, do you think things will get better?"

"I know it's hard to see, but all of this is temporary. Things will get better, they have to."

"Are you sure?"

Again Clem somehow picked up that Shepard wasn't completely sure of what she was saying.

"Yeah … I'm not sure how long it will take. But it has to end eventually."

"I hope it's soon."

"Me too, Clem."

The pair watched a squirrel as it climbed from tree to tree searching for food.

_If only the walkers ONLY ate humans._

Over the last week when Shepard went hunting she had noticed several animal carcasses that had been completely eviscerated. It was a shame that not only did the walkers feast on the former apex predator on Earth, but they also ate their food as well.

Shepard had to admit that walkers were extremely efficient hunters, despite their stupidity. After all, they had all but destroyed Atlanta and forced all the survivors into hiding. It was a complete mess out there.

Eventually Shepard decided that it was best to go see if Larry or Lilly had turned up anything.

Shepard was about to ask Clementine to move when she noticed that the little girl had fallen asleep, so she carefully moved her into the chair.

Clementine didn't wake.

Shepard quietly walked away, hoping to give her some peace and quiet.

As she approached, Larry gave Shepard a nasty look.

Apparently Shepard getting angry about being abandoned had pissed him off. The only reason he never vocalized his displeasure was because Shepard had saved his life and he knew it.

Lilly on the other hand started to respect Shepard for all she had done. It was a nice change of pace.

"You guys have any ideas on the food shortage?" Shepard asked

Larry and Lilly exchanged a look.

A look that said yes, but you won't like it.

_At least we might find food. I'm up for almost anything right now._

"I used to work at Robins Air Force base, before all this happened. I was thinking that raiding the cafeteria might get us a good amount of food. In fact I'm sure of it." Lilly explained

Shepard cocked her head to the side. "How do you know?"

"The cafeteria had regular food shipments every month. We got one the day before."

_Perfect_

"I sense a BUT coming."

Lilly nodded.

"When it happened the entire base got swarmed. I barely got out of there."

Shepard sighed even though she had seen that coming from a mile away.

"When you say swarmed?"

"It was pretty bad. It started with about a hundred. A lot of people stood their ground thinking they could fight back. We didn't know to shoot for the head then." Lilly remarked

Shepard knew they had to go search the base.

"I think it's a great idea to be honest. Bet the walkers kept out looters." Shepard replied

"That's what I thought. I'm not saying it won't be risky but we NEED that food." Lilly said in agreement

"Alright, I'll go talk to Kenny and see what he has to say about this."

Lilly hesitantly nodded in agreement.

"What's the point in asking him? It's the best chance we've got." Larry stated in irritation

"You never know if Kenny has thought of something else, something less risky. Even then we'll probably still get the food at the air base anyway." Shepard replied diplomatically

Even Larry had a hard time trying to be angry after that explanation. He grumbled something but she knew he approved of the reasoning. He was a sensible man, just out of his element.

And anyone that was out of their element tended to get irritable.

Shepard decided to check on Doug next.

"I'm hoping you aren't going to tell me that this place is going to fall apart." Shepard said, a hint oh humor coloring her voice.

Doug chuckled.

"No, it's surprisingly sturdy. It will be fine for a long time, but I'd rather check it often to be sure."

Shepard couldn't argue worth that logic.

"You alright Doug?"

"I'm fine. Still having nightmares about the drugstore."

Shepard knew how that felt. She still had nightmares about the war, and that was, as far as she knew, over.

Shepard said her goodbyes and climbed the RV to sit next to Carley.

"Carley"

"Hey Shepard. Everything going alright down there?" Carley said pointing at Doug

"Hey, no worry. He's just being cautious. I would have done it myself if he hadn't beaten me to it."

Carley nodded.

"How's Clementine?" Carley asked

"She's getting better. She's having less nightmares about her parents. A lot less actually."

Carley turned to look at her. "You doing alright Shepard?"

"As good as I can be considering."

"Fair point."

"How are YOU doing Carley?"

"I'm ok. Nightmares about the drugstore are starting to get less intense. I just awake with a start, not screaming."

Shepard frowned.

"Any word on dinner tonight?" Carley asked

"Apples and beans."

"I thought we ran out of apples yesterday?"

"Kenny counted wrong. Tonight is when we run out of apples."

Carley nodded.

"Lilly figures that the Air Force Base still has food left in the cafeteria. I'm going to go talk to Kenny about. We might raid it tomorrow if I can do anything about it."

"Isn't that place supposed to be swarming?" Carley asked

"That's why there is still a chance that there will be food there."

Carley sighed.

"I already don't like this plan." Carley remarked

"If the place isn't swarming with walkers what is the chance there would be something valuable still there?" Shepard asked

Carley sighed, submitting to that line of reasoning.

"Bye Carley." Shepard said as she got up to leave.

"Hey, are you nightshift tonight?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Shepard, you've done that shift for the last three nights. Don't you think it would be best if someone else did it, at least for one night? You deserve the rest."

"Carley, I haven't been sleeping very well so I'm not sure what rolling around in my bed would accomplish. Might as well give one of you a break."

"Well being there for Clementine isn't exactly a waste of time."

Shepard hesitated.

"Clem will be fine without me. She always is."

Carley sighed in defeat.

A lesson that Carley had learned fast was that once Shepard could be extremely stubborn if she wanted to. It was a waste of time to fight it.

When Shepard came down she passed by Clem. Still fast asleep.

Shepard smiled.

"CLEMENTINE!"

Clementine flew out of the chair.

Shepard sighed and massaged her head.

_Duck ..._

"CLEMENTINE!" Duck called

"Duck, Clementine was sleeping. I'm sure she'll meet you over by your parents in a few minutes." Shepard stated

"Cool!" Duck exclaimed, then ran off.

Clementine moaned.

Shepard stifled a laugh.

Clementine tried to give Shepard a disapproving look but failed miserably, ending up giggling.

Shepard crouched down to Clementine.

"I have to admit, I think you're the most incredible person here. Having to deal with Duck all the time must be so exhausting." Shepard whispered sarcastically

"No kidding … he can be … overwhelming." Clementine sighed

Shepard tousled Clem's hair affectionately.

Clementine reluctantly went off to search for Duck.

Shepard saw Duck pull Clementine towards the other side of the Motel. Shepard found Kenny cleaning one of the pistols.

"Kenny, any luck on the food problem?"

"No, I think we are just going to have to make do with what we can for the time being."

"Maybe not. Lilly thinks she knows where to find food."

"Really? And she hasn't said this before because-"

"We would have to raid the airbase."

That caused Kenny to snap his mouth shut.

"The fucking air base. That's suicide."

"So is waiting to starve to death." Shepard pointed out.

Kenny was silent, no doubt trying to come up with a counter-argument.

_I wonder if he is objecting to the plan or to Lilly._

Kenny and Lilly had been at odds since the drugstore.

Kenny hated Lilly because she usually sided with her father, which was a problem considering that Larry had wanted to kill Duck when they met. It didn't help that Lilly had been cold during that meeting.

Lilly hated Kenny because he basically sat around when they were looking for the keys to the pharmacy, and also because Kenny hates Larry.

_Hate is a strong word, more like strong dislike._

It wasn't that big of a deal right now, but it could be a problem if it was left to fester.

Shepard, however, had bigger issues than holding both their hands through this.

Being in the middle certainly didn't get her any favors from either of them but she was still riding on the gratitude train that she had for both of them. She would deal with it later. It would also help when they had food, as hunger makes tensions run high. Having a full belly would calm both of them a little bit.

"Kenny?" Shepard said after Kenny didn't respond.

"Does she know where she's going?"

"I think she's probably come up with a plan. We'll all talk about it at dinner time."

Kenny nodded.

Shepard spent the rest of the time between now and dinner cleaning whatever weapons they had. It was an important job and it was one that could be easily overlooked if they weren't careful.

"Dinner's ready everyone!" Katjaa called out

Shepard finished with the pistol she was working on before heading over.

When they were all done eating their glorious apples and beans Shepard motioned Lilly and Kenny over.

"Alright Lilly, have you come up with a plan since I spoke to you?"

"Yeah, when the attack hit all the gates were sealed in order to keep the rest of the walkers out."

"And trapped the rest of your people in." Kenny replied

Lilly nodded.

"I was trying to find an exit when I found a cut piece of fence. It wasn't very big but I remember where it is exactly. It was at the end of a little stream. So I'll still be able to find it. The hole was near the barracks, which is very close to the cafeteria. We get in and out before anyone has even noticed."

"Is the door to the cafeteria unlocked?" Shepard asked

Lilly was hesitant to answer.

"I'm not sure. It's usually locked but a few people have keys. We might find a pair around there."

_A little weak there._

"And if we don't?" Kenny accusingly asked

"Then we might be able to knock the door down. It's not the armory or the hangers. They aren't built to keep people out at all costs."

"How are we going to get out?" Shepard asked

"A little bit away from the barracks is the vehicle bay. If we're lucky we can drive a truck and the supplies out of there."

Shepard nodded.

Kenny surprisingly agreed.

"So I'm assuming we will do this tomorrow?" Shepard asked

"Sounds good to me." Kenny replied

There was one more question that needed to be answered.

"How many people should we bring?"

Lilly thought about this in her head.

"Probably no more than three people."

"She's right, numbers aren't going to help us anyway, not against that many walkers. If we're smart we can make it." Kenny said, agreeing with Lilly.

"Alright, all three of us will go tomorrow before sunrise. We are going to need to get out of there before dark."

Kenny and Lilly went to grab gear for tomorrow. Shepard meanwhile explained he plan to everyone else.

Carley was not exactly thrilled with being left behind, to put it mildly.

"What do you mean I can't come? Why?!" Carley yelled

"Clementine and the rest need you here." Shepard replied

"They have Larry." Carley objected

Shepard noticed a corner off to the side where they would be able to talk freely, the pair made their way over there.

"Carley, the reason I want you here is because I know that you are the only one that doesn't have a priority here. Larry doesn't care about anyone, Kenny would protect his family and leave everyone else to die, and Lilly would protect her dad first and foremost. I would trust Doug but he isn't a fighter. To put it simply I trust you to keep Clementine safe. I want you to know that is not a trust that is given lightly." Shepard explained

Carley nodded.

"She's like a daughter to you isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." Shepard replied

"Did you … have kids … before?"

"No … my boyfriend and I wanted some but … that was never going to be. Accepted that fact a long time ago. Clementine … well she is the perfect little girl."

Carley nodded, then rested her hand on Shepard's shoulder.

"She'll be safe with me, I promise."

"I know she will."

Shepard nodded and walked back to the group.

Clementine was waiting for her.

"Do you have to go?" Clementine asked

Shepard smiled.

"Yeah I do. But I promise when I come back that I'll have food with me. Feed that hungry belly." Shepard said, lightly poking Clementine in the belly.

Clementine giggled and swatted Shepard's hand away.

Clementine frowned again.

"Why do you always have to go?" Clementine asked

_Good question._

"I need to help keep everyone safe. Can't do that if I just sit here."

"But what about you?"

Shepard chuckled

"What about me?"

Clementine's frown just got a little deeper.

"Why don't you worry about yourself?" Clementine asked

"Because I'm no more important than everyone else here."

"That's not true." Clementine said sadly

"Are you saying you think that I'm more important than some people here?" Shepard asked

She was curious to how Clementine would respond.

"You ARE more important than everyone else here."

"Really now?" Shepard said, a touch of humor in her voice.

"Of course m-"

Clementine gasped.

Shepard felt her heart-beat speed up.

_Did Clem almost call me mom?_

There was a long silence between the two.

"Sorry dear, but I have to go. I need to make sure this gets done." Shepard said

"Will you at least not take the night-shift again?"

Shepard was about to answer that she had to when Clementine gave her the puppy dog eyes.

_Damn it … Carley you win._

Shepard heard Carley snicker behind her.

Shepard turned to her. Carley had the look of victory on her.

"So, who has the night-shift now?" Shepard asked Carley

"I think Larry does then, he hasn't done it in a while." Carley replied

"Well go tell him the good news then."

Carley sighed.

Shepard turned back to see a smiling Clementine.

* * *

It wasn't long before Shepard was in bed, with Clem cuddling against her side.

Shepard had to admit that this was better than the night-shift.

"Jane. I have a question."

"You always do."

"What is a Reaper?"

Shepard could have sworn that her heart stopped.

"W-Where … did you hear that?" Shepard asked, maybe a little too harshly.

"Last time you had a nightmare you were mumbling. You said a lot of things I didn't understand."

Shepard paused.

"It's nothing sweetie, just mumbling in a nightmare. Don't worry about it."

Clementine did not looked satisfied with that answer.

"Who is Garrus?"

"He's my boyfriend."

"Oh. Is … is he …"

"Dead? No. He was fine when I saw him last. He's fine. He was with my team when this happened."

Clementine was satisfied with that answer however, most likely because it was an actual answer.

Shepard ran her hand through Clementine's hair.

Clementine had such curly hair, it was relaxing to work her way through the curls. Clementine had told Shepard once that her mother used to do that to her hair. Shepard had stopped, worrying that she would bring up unpleasant thoughts, however Clementine had begged her to keep doing it.

Shepard went back to the moment where Clementine almost called her mom.

Shepard wouldn't lie. She had craved that. She wanted Clementine to finish the sentence.

But again logic came through and asked if this was the right thing to do. Shepard would be using a grieving, confused, frightened girl to make herself feel better. Feel loved again. It was a feeling that she sorely missed.

Shepard surprised herself by how stable she managed to keep herself considering that she knew that she would probably never see Garrus again. Maybe it was because she knew that he would be alright. The war was over. He was still alive.

_Am I trying to use Clem to fill that void?_

Shepard couldn't come up with an answer to that one either way.

"Jane?"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright, you don't look like it."

"I'm fine sweetie. I was just thinking."

"About?"

"What happens if I don't make it back tomorrow? I'm going to talk to Carley about it in the morning." Shepard lied without thinking.

Clementine was silent for a moment.

"Please don't say that."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. But I need you to promise that if something happens to me that you will stay with Carley. I trust her the most."

Clementine didn't answer.

Shepard didn't pressure her. They could talk about that possibility when Clem was ready.

"Time for bed." Shepard mumbled

"Goodnight" Clementine said

* * *

Despite the heavy content of their discussion Shepard surprisingly slept well.

Shepard woke up refreshed.

However, Clementine seemed to be having a nightmare.

She was clutching onto Shepard mumbling something. Shepard couldn't quite hear.

Clem soon awoke with a start.

Clem looked at Shepard for few moments before relaxing.

Shepard started to stroke her cheek.

"You ok?" Shepard asked

"No … I had a nightmare."

"About?"

Clem hesitated.

"I watched my mom die." Clem sobbed

Shepard pulled Clementine close.

"I'm sorry sweetie." Shepard whispered

Clementine sighed, leaning into Shepard's hug.

It was almost time for Shepard to go.

"Why don't you stay here and get some more rest." Shepard suggested

Clementine looked like she was about to argue … but then she closed her mouth.

"Goodbye" Clementine said

"I'll be back soon." Shepard said with a smile.

When Shepard opened the door she could have sworn she heard Clementine whisper "Please come back."

It made Shepard feel a little guilty about how much Clementine worried for her.

She could see Kenny and Lilly eating their breakfast. It even looked like they had set out a plate for her as well.

"Thanks" Shepard said as she chewed through her apple.

They ate in silence. They all knew this was going to be risky. There was a chance that all three of them would end up in that airfield; stumbling around, rotting, moaning, looking for more people to consume, just as they were once consumed.

It was not a comforting thought.

As soon as they finished the three of them headed into Lilly's car. It was the most fuel-efficient car they had. Something that was of the up-most importance when they had to travel large distances.

Shepard took shotgun. Lilly drove and Kenny sat in the back.

The countryside was surprisingly peaceful. It was strange to see that a world that was filled with so much death could look so peaceful at times.

"_That's the worst part. It's like this place wants you to forget."_

James wasn't talking about this, but the statement still rang true.

Shepard sighed.

It was a few hours before they got to close enough to the airfield to hike out the rest of it out on foot.

Lilly took point as she led her companions through woods towards the stream. They found it within ten minutes.

Lilly was right when she said she could find it again.

For a place they knew was swarming there was a strange lack of walkers around. The gates must have held, and something else drew the ones on the outside away.

It was comforting and frightening.

On one hand they would find little resistance before they entered and when they got out, but the amount of walkers would be horrific inside the gates.

They were about to clear the tree line when they started to hear the awful moaning.

The three peeked around the cover of a particularly thick tree.

_Damn … there are hundreds out there._

"Fuck" Kenny whispered

"This changes nothing … we need to get that food." Shepard commented

Both Lilly and Kenny nodded in agreement.

There was enough walkers near the hole in the fence to cause some serious problems.

They needed to be drawn away.

Shepard looked around for something.

"Look." Lilly said

She pointed towards a group of cars near the fence. They looked mostly intact.

Shepard gave Lilly a questioning stare.

"We can trigger the alarms. It'll draw all the walkers to them."

_Great idea._

"I'll handle it then come right back." Kenny stated as he ran off.

_It's not like we have to go when the alarms go off. We have to wait for the walkers to shuffle away anyway._

It took ten minutes but Kenny did it. He got all the alarms going.

The walkers inside mobbed the gates in a desperate attempt to get to the cars.

As soon as Kenny was back they made a dash for the gates.

Shepard slipped through the fence quietly and without issue. Lilly was the same.

Kenny however accidentally got caught on the fence.

"Fuck" He muttered as he pulled himself free.

Shepard suppressed a laugh while Lilly scowled at him.

Kenny returned Lilly's glare with one of his own.

Shepard sighed.

"Enough! Let's get this over with." She whispered

They returned back to the task at hand.

Lilly led them towards the cafeteria, typing in a code at the lock.

The door opened.

"Wait, what? I thought the power went out weeks ago." Kenny asked

"This place has back-up generators, makes sure the food doesn't go bad." Lilly replied

Kenny nodded in understanding.

They all slipped through the door.

The place was a mess. There were signs of battle all over. With only the occasional dead walker on the ground.

It must have been a slaughter house in here. A slaughter house where the victims still wander around that is.

"I doubt we're alone in here." Shepard whispered

Lilly continued towards the cafeteria, determined to get that food.

They turned the corner to find a few walkers shuffling around.

"We need to get through there." Lilly whispered

Thankfully Shepard didn't go anywhere without a knife.

She unsheathed it and advanced. There was only three walkers.

The first was an easy stab through the temple. It went down quickly.

The second however was more difficult. The knife got stuck in its skull. Leaving her weaponless for the third.

But not defenseless.

Shepard kicked it hard in the knee, causing said knee to give out. As soon as it was on the ground she crushed its skull with her foot.

Shepard pulled at the knife until it came free. The blade was a little dull, caused it to snag.

_That's what you get when you don't double check your gear. _

Shepard sheathed the knife. She wouldn't use it, well unless things really went to shit.

But if she needed to rely on a dull knife then she was pretty screwed.

Lilly continued on towards the cafeteria, the path thankfully clear of walkers.

When they arrived though Shepard winced.

The cafeteria was covered in bodies. It was something out of a nightmare.

Lilly took this time to vomit in the corner.

_Hell, she probably knew people in here._

Shepard gave her a sympathetic look.

Lilly took a deep breath and they started moving forward, carefully.

_This is suicide, walkers love to play dead till you pass._

Shepard instead hopped on one of the tables, which had no walkers.

Kenny and Lilly then followed suit.

When the table ran out of space Shepard paused. What could they do?

Kenny however had no such desires to think. He jumped as far as he could. Surprisingly landing in an area that was free of faking walkers.

Shepard easily made the jump to Kenny.

Lilly was about to jump when the damn table cracked, causing her to fall on the floor.

Everyone was still, waiting to get swarmed by walkers that had simply laid down.

_1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5_

_Nothing._

Nothing moved.

Lilly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nice job" Kenny muttered under his breath.

Lilly shot him a nasty look but otherwise did not respond.

The door to the food locker was locked.

Shepard gave it a hard kick. It barely budged.

"I think these doors are stronger than you think." Shepard muttered

Lilly looked extremely surprised.

"SHIT! There was a form that passed my desk a week before this happened. It was a requisition form for a team to fix a door in the cafeteria. I thought it was just probably the entrance or something. It must have been for this door." Lilly explosively sighed.

Kenny was about to start ranting when Shepard heard something quiet from the other side of the door.

It sounded like someone clicking in a magazine.

"Hey is someone in there?! We need help, we're starving! We have a group downtown. It'll be safer there, this place is swarming with them!" Shepard shouted

Shepard heard the little titter-tatters of movements.

"I know you're there, I heard you load a magazine." Shepard stated, as a warning to the person on the other side of the door and to her companions.

Kenny and Lilly raised their pistols.

Shepard heard a bolt side.

The door slowly opened.

A man inside had a rifle that was pointed straight to Shepard.

The man was a white male, had black hair and blue eyes. He was a little bigger than her. Based on his stubble he had been here since the beginning. He also had on a pair of glasses.

Shepard motioned for her people to lower their weapons. As soon as they did he lowered his.

"Hello. My name's Shepard." Shepard stated

"H-Hello. I'm Mark." He replied

He looked a little nervous.

Shepard stole a peek inside the locker. It seemed like that he was the only one. Well him and all that food.

It was more than Shepard had guessed would be there.

They needed it one way or another.

"Have you been here this whole time?" Shepard asked

"Yes … but I don't even know how long that's been really." Mark said

"It's been more than a month." Shepard replied

Mark shook his head. It was hard to hear that much time could have passed.

"Is it finally over?" He asked

"No" Shepard sighed

Mark rubbed his head.

"I'm assuming that you are here for the food then." He said

"Yeah, we are … but I meant what I said about talking you with us." Shepard said

"What?! We already have enough mouths to feed." Lilly objected

"Lilly look at all that food. We will have more than enough, for all of us plus him." Shepard reasoned.

Lilly wasn't pleased but she didn't object further.

"Thanks." Marks muttered

Shepard smiled and nodded.

"We don't have all day people. We have to find some way to get all that food out of here." Kenny remarked

"I can help with that." Mark said

Shepard turned towards him and signaled him to continue.

"I'm a mechanic and I still have my keys for the vehicle bay … as well as the keys for one of the trucks." Mark said

Shepard grinned.

"Finally some good news!" Kenny laughed

"There is one problem though. It's out of gas. I was about to refuel it when everything fell apart."

Kenny growled out "Of course it's out of fucking fuel."

Shepard had to agree.

"But … if we can refuel it we can use it go get all the food and ourselves out of here." Mark finished

"Can you do it?" Shepard asked

"Not alone, but if one of you can help the rest can pack up the food and get it ready to go." Mark replied

"Kenny, Lilly. Stay here, grab everything we can use. We'll be back soon."

"How are we going to know when you are ready to go?" Lilly asked

_Good question_

"We'll give a signal, one you can't miss." Shepard replied

Lilly didn't look satisfied with this half answer.

Shepard turned to Mark.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

The pair left quickly, closing the door behind them.

As Shepard got outside she noticed something was off.

It seemed quiet.

_Oh shit_

Shepard looked over in horror to discover that the cars were eerily silent, and the herd was coming back into the compound. Searching for food.

_How the Hell did this happen?_ Shepard asked herself as she sprinted with Mark over to the vehicle bay.

Then she remembered one detail that should have flagged a long time ago.

The car lights were all on when Lilly spotted them.

The batteries must have drained.

_How the Hell did we miss that?!_

Mark and Shepard bolted for the vehicle bay.

As Mark had said he had the key to the door.

Mark put the key in and turned.

He grunted when he tried to push the door in.

"Something is blocking the door!" He yelled

Shepard gave it a hard kick. It budged but didn't open all the way.

Mark unslung his rifle and fired at the walkers that were getting too close for comfort.

Shepard kicked again, and again. Each time hoping that that time was the last time.

Shepard kicked again, and she heard the sounds of a barricade falling.

Shepard opened the door to find the vehicle bay empty.

"Come on!" She screamed

Mark hurried into the door, and Shepard slammed it right behind him, and he locked the door again.

"We should be safe. They make those doors pretty well." Mark commented

Shepard nodded.

Inside the vehicle bay was a truck.

And a lot of fuel.

"Does the truck need all that fuel?"

"No. We always have extra on hand just in case."

Shepard couldn't help but smile.

The group could always use more fuel.

"Alright, let's get this thing going then grab Kenny and Lilly."

Mark nodded and they set to work.

While they refueled the truck a question burned its way into her mind.

_Where were the people who made the barricade?_

Tap.

Shepard looked around the bay. She couldn't find the source of the noise.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

"Mark, I need to look for that sound."

Mark nodded as he started to gather the rest of the fuel.

Shepard could see clearly where she had come from. It wasn't over there.

Shepard drew her pistol, checking to make sure it was fully loaded.

As Shepard rounded the truck she knew something was wrong. She turned the final corner to see that Mark was okay.

That left only one place. The back.

The truck was one of those big transport trucks, the ones with doors on the back.

_Poor bastards probably thought to hide in the truck._

Shepard knocked on the door.

The bait worked as she could hear more activity. They were defiantly in there.

"Mark, we have some walkers in the back. I need your help."

Mark jogged over and nodded.

Shepard used her fingers to count down.

_Three … two … one … MARK!_

Shepard flung the door open and six walkers fell out of the back, onto their faces.

Shepard and Mark unloaded their weapons into their skulls.

No danger really.

Shepard doubled checked to make sure there wasn't a slow mover in the back.

It was clear, and carrying some interesting cargo. Crates. Long crates but not very tall.

The sort of crate you would put a rifle in.

There were three of those. Plus one larger more square box.

_Ammo?_

"Mark, this what I think it is?" Shepard asked, gesturing towards the crates.

"I'm was just a mechanic. We'll find out after we open them." Mark replied with a shrug.

Shepard was about to head out, back towards the cafeteria, when a large number of walkers started to bang on the main door to the vehicle bay.

Shepard swore under her breath.

"Any ideas?" She asked, turning back towards Mark.

Mark rested his hand on his forehead as he thought.

"Not really." He finally replied

Shepard closed and locked the back door.

"All right then, we'll go with mine." Shepard said as she approached the driver seat.

"Which is?" Mark yelled as he followed her.

"Take a guess. Jump in." Shepard simply replied

Mark swore under his breath and jumped into the passenger seat.

Mark threw her the keys.

She turned on the truck.

It was strange how little the controls from the Mako differed from cars and trucks today. She would normally consider it a blessing but all of her teammates had invariably called her a bad driver during the chase after Saren.

Though being a bad driver was what was going to get her out of this mess.

Shepard took a deep breath and put the truck in reverse.

"I would hold on to something if I was you." Shepard remarked

Mark tightened his seat belt. Shepard followed that example.

Shepard gunned it.

The truck made it through the wall, and through some of the walkers. Thankfully, not nearly as many walkers were at the vehicle bay as she assumed.

Well there were, just not were in the way.

Shepard continued to driver in reverse, aiming for one of the cafeteria walls.

The truck connected a few seconds later.

"What the fuck?!" She heard Kenny screamed

Shepard and Mark ran straight inside the hole they had made in the wall.

Kenny and Lilly were standing there with the most surprised expressions.

"GUYS! MOVE!" Shepard screamed

They snapped out of it.

They all started to pack food in the back when they heard the shambling of feet and the moans of the dead.

They were running out of time.

There was still plenty of food to pack though.

"Shit! Walkers!" Kenny yelled

Shepard turned to see them come from the right side of the truck.

"Keep going! I'll handle them!" Shepard ordered

These four were ahead of the main group, so it wasn't overwhelming.

Shepard gave each one a bullet to the head.

However Shepard was running low on ammo. She would need to fight hand to hand soon.

_Or not._

When the truck came through the wall it knocked off one of the mirrors, knocking it to the ground and shattering it.

Shepard tore off part of the shirt one of the dead walkers was wearing and used it to wrap her hand, then picked up her new dagger.

Shepard stabbed the next offending walker straight through the eye, killing it instantly. The next met death in a similar fashion.

However the glass dagger snapped in half when she dispatched her third.

_Damn it!_

There wasn't another glass shard that was big enough for her to use, leaving her with only her dull dagger.

As expected it got stuck in the first walker she killed.

She would have grabbed it but walkers were starting to surround her.

"GUYS ARE YOU ALMOST DONE!" Shepard screamed

"Almost!" Lilly frantically replied

Shepard was left with only her body to defend herself with.

She ended up crushing five walker's heads before the rest of her group finished.

The three of them hopped into the back and Shepard took her place behind the wheel as she was closer.

Shepard strapped herself in and gunned it.

Shepard could hear swearing in the back of the truck, most likely due to her … 'tactical maneuvering'.

The truck forced its way through the mob.

To be honest Shepard was terrified the entire time. It slowly got more terrifying as the walkers' bodies started to impede the truck.

What started as Shepard gunning it turned into a slow journey as the truck acted like a boat going down rapids.

The truck would occasionally rock back and forth as walkers on both sides heaved.

If the truck tipped Shepard would be as good as dead. The others would be safe for a time but eventually they would have to try and get through all the walkers.

So if the truck flipped everyone here was as good as dead, and there was a good chance that everyone at the motel would die too.

_Clementine_

That was something that Shepard would not allow

Shepard punched out the front window.

Shepard charged up her biotics, waiting for a slight break in the heard at the front.

When it occurred she let out a shockwave that threw every walker in front of the around like rag dolls.

"What was that sound?" Kenny asked after the shockwave subsided.

"Nothing!" Shepard replied as she gunned it.

With the path in front of them open it was easy to get out.

Shepard continued to drive until they made it back to Lilly's car.

Shepard applied the brakes. Everyone got out of the truck.

"Holy shit" Kenny breathed

Shepard chuckled.

"We made it." Lilly said, mainly to herself.

"So now what?" Mark asked

"We go home." Shepard stated

Shepard took the wheel of the truck and Mark took the passenger seat. Lilly jumped into her car. Leaving Kenny it the back to make sure that the food didn't topple around too badly.

* * *

**Clementine's POV**

Clementine didn't want to admit it … but she was starting to get worried.

It had been most of the day already and Jane still hadn't come back yet.

Katjaa had been worried about Kenny all day, Larry worried for Lilly, and the rest were worried for Shepard almost as much as Clementine was worried now.

Duck remained oblivious of the possible danger.

She envied him right now.

Clementine was sitting on top of the RV they used as a lookout position with Carley.

Carley turned over to Clementine.

"Don't worry Clem, I'm sure she'll be back soon." Carley remarked

Carley wasn't that convincing.

Clementine wanted to believe that, she really did … but she wasn't sure she could anymore.

Clementine curled up into a ball.

Ever since her parents died Clementine had felt a little empty inside. However, over the last month Clementine had begun to feel … a little whole again.

And she knew why.

Jane.

Clementine wished she had been honest to her this morning. She wished she hadn't lied.

She hadn't had a nightmare about losing her mother, she had a nightmare about losing her.

* * *

_It was the pharmacy. Doug and Carley had already made their escape. _

_Clementine went to chase after Jane however something yanked hard on her leg, causing her to topple._

_She looked back in horror to realize that she had been grabbed by a walker._

_It snarled at her with a jaw full with dark yellow, smelly, rotting teeth. Its skin peeling off as it continued towards her._

_Clementine screamed._

_Jane threw it off of her, and then crushed its skull with her foot._

_Jane looked down and reached out for Clementine. Clementine reached for her as well._

_Then Jane was yanked away from her, by the very horde she was trying to save Clementine from._

_Clementine couldn't move as she watched Jane die, screaming for her to run._

_She didn't, she stayed and waited for her turn. It was the least she deserved after getting her killed._

* * *

Clementine remembered the nightmare with a strange clarity.

It was something that she was scared would come true every time she saw a walker. It's something that Clementine feared every day.

It only got worse after Clementine almost called her mom.

Especially since she was starting to believe that was what Jane was now.

A mother. A loving, caring, guardian. One that always protected her. That's what a mother was, right?

Clementine was conflicted though. Her real mother had died a month ago, along with her dad.

Was it wrong to feel this way about Jane? Especially since her parents hadn't died all the long ago, despite how long it felt. Was it wrong to feel that way, did she ignore all the love her true mother gave her by accepting Jane's.

She didn't have the answer to that.

Whenever she had a question she always asked Jane.

But she couldn't ask Jane this time. What happened if Jane told her she wasn't that special to her?

It would rip her hear to shreds.

Clementine looked towards Carley.

Carley and Jane got along well. Maybe she would be able to tell her what she thought about all this.

"Carley" Clementine whispered

"Yes, Clem?" Carley asked

"I'm … confused about something."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering … what … how." Clementine stuttered

Carley only arched her eyebrows, waiting for the question.

Clementine decided just to take a deep breath and just spit it out.

"Do you think that Jane thinks of me as a daughter?"

Carley didn't answer her right away.

This was the part she told her no and Clementine felt all alone again.

"Clem, that woman spends almost all her free time with you. She basically worships the ground you walk on. She even slips some of her food onto your plate. I'm surprised that you need to ask."

"Is that a yes?" Clementine asked, with hope breaking through her words

Carley laughed "Well, yeah. I doubt it could mean anything else. Why are you asking this?"

Clementine turned away in embarrassment.

Carley was right, it was so painfully obvious that Jane cared for her like that and she was almost convinced otherwise.

"Wait … are you telling me that you thought she didn't care that much for you?" Carley said, with a surprise expression on her face.

"Yes" Clementine muttered at the floor.

"You know, it's funny. She once asked me the same questions about you. Even in the same nervous manner too."

That caught Clementine off guard. Jane always seemed so confident, in fact Clementine had never seen her nothing less than completely heroic.

Carley had to be lying. Jane didn't get nervous, or scared, or cowardly.

Jane wasn't any of those.

"That's not true … Jane's never afraid." Clementine said, looking Carley directly in the eye.

Carley smirked.

"We both know that isn't true." Carley replied

Clementine didn't reply but she knew that Carley was wrong.

Clementine thought over what Carley had said, then a question popped into her mind.

"What do you mean Jane gives me some of her food?"

Carley laughed.

"Oh, Clem. I'm surprised you haven't noticed. Shepard always puts a little of her food on your plate. It's rather heartwarming actually. Sure don't see Larry do the same thing."

Clem's cheeks flushed. Jane had been giving her food, her own food, and she hadn't even noticed.

Clementine frowned.

Carley looked back at her and said "By the way, you didn't hear that from me. Promise?"

Clementine nodded.

At least she could stop Jane from doing it again now.

"Is it wrong to feel this way?" Clementine asked

"What do you mean?"

"My parents … died … is it wrong?" Clementine choked out

Carley gave her a small sad smile.

"Is it wrong to take comfort in people who care for you, no. Is it wrong to love someone else as a parent even though … no, it's not. Not really. You still love your parents. You just love someone as much as them. Besides … I think your parents would approve. After all the things Jane did for you, I think they would be just ecstatic that someone cares for their little girl enough to risk everything for her."

That was the answer Clementine had been unable to find on her own.

Clementine couldn't help but smile.

That's when they heard a loud thud coming from past the gates.

Carley instinctively raised her rifle.

"Clem, get down. NOW!" Carley screamed

Clem hurried down the ladder down the side.

_I wish Jane was here._

Clementine hid behind the side of the RV, watching even though she knew she should probably hide in her room.

Jane would be disappointed in her, but the feeling was mutual.

Jane was passing her food to her.

A big truck parked in front of the gate.

Clementine could feel herself shaking in fear.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Carley screamed

"WAIT!" a familiar voice called

It was Kenny.

"Damn it, Kenny. A little warning next time." Carley muttered, lowering her rifle.

_She's back._

Carley came down and opened the gates.

On the other side Kenny was holding a package, and he was standing with someone she didn't recognize. He was holding a package too.

Jane walked around the other end of the truck. Carrying a much bigger crate than either Kenny or this new person.

It made Clementine chuckle to think about how much stronger Jane was than everyone else.

In first grade the boys would always say that they were stronger than all the girls.

It was nice to see that they were wrong.

Jane came a few feet inside and gently put down the box.

The others soon followed soon. Eventually Lilly showed up as well and started to help the other three unload stuff.

Clementine hoped it was food. Beans and apples got old after a while.

Jane went back to the truck and the others stood around talking. It was mainly Lilly and Kenny talking to Carley.

Clementine waved towards the new man, who gave his one little wave in return.

He seemed like a nice person.

Shepard came back and yelled out "GUYS! We have a new person for you to meet!"

Eventually after a few minutes. Everyone else came out.

Larry was grumbling about something, and was giving the new man a look. She assumed it was because he didn't like him.

Larry was always grumpy.

As soon as everyone was assembled Jane said "Everyone, this is Mark. He was trapped at the air base. He helped get us this truck and all the other things we salvaged from the base … including a least a few months worth of fresh, clean food."

Clementine could see how everyone's faces light up in joy. She could only assume that joy had spread across her features as well.

Everyone introduced themselves to Mark.

When they were all done Kenny went off with Katjaa to go make dinner.

Mark looked at her, then back to Jane.

"So I'm assuming this is your daughter?" Mark asked

"No, Clementine was all alone when this started. I found her and I've been taking care of her since."

"Oh" Mark sighed

Clementine looked away. She didn't want to see the look of pity he was no doubt giving her, it would cause her to burst into tears.

When he was gone she and Jane went over to one of the more secluded chairs.

"Hey" Shepard whispered, running her hand through Clementine's hair.

Clementine leaned into the head massage.

They were silent, enjoying what little time they got to spend together.

Clementine wanted to tell Jane how she felt … but she couldn't. She wasn't brave like her.

"Dinner's ready!" Kenny called out

Clementine followed Jane to the food line.

"There was some steak in the freezer. It'll go bad soon so eat up everyone!" Kenny said

Most of the adults looked like they were starting to drool at the word steak.

Jane went to grab their food.

Clementine watched as Jane quickly shuffled a portion of her meal on her own plate.

Clementine frowned.

Jane turned back to see that frown.

"Something wrong? Don't like steak?" She asked

Clementine didn't answer but led the way back to the table.

Carley noticed Clementine's expression and started to chuckle.

Jane also noticed Carley's laughing but she had no idea what was going on.

They ate in silence, Jane obviously being confused at the sudden change in Clementine's mood.

Clementine left only the pieces that Jane had given her on her plate.

Jane finished her food as well, and was staring at the pieces that Clementine left untouched.

The look in Shepard's eye suggested that knew what was wrong. She faked ignorance though.

"Something wrong?" She asked

"No, why do you ask?" Clementine asked

"You left some of your food untouched." Shepard replied

"No I didn't." Clementine responded truthfully.

Clementine then gave her plate to Jane.

"Clem, sweetie, I appreciate the gesture but that is your food. You need to eat." Jane replied, pushing the plate back to Clementine.

"I saw you put that on my plate, and I found out this isn't the first time." Clementine said as she gave the food back to its true owner.

Shepard sighed.

"Of course you did. Let me guess, Carley told you."

Clementine winced.

_How did she know?_

Jane gazed at Carley and shook her head in a disapproving manner.

It took some time but Clementine finally persuaded Jane to eat, mostly but using a puppy dog expression.

It worked like a charm.

Clementine would remember that for the next time.

The rest of the day was slow and quiet.

Before she knew it she was back in bed.

Jane had tried to volunteer for the nighttime shift, but Carley just called her an idiot and ignored her. Jane reluctantly went off to bed.

Jane was out almost as soon as she hit the bed.

Clementine wrapped herself in her Jane's bigger, warmer body and slowly drifted to sleep.

* * *

_Clementine sat in her tree house. It was late afternoon._

_She looked at of the door to see the familiar sight of abandoned vehicles._

_Clementine slowly came down the tree house ladder. It was quiet, to the point where it was uncomfortable._

"_H-Hello?" She whispered_

_There was no answer, causing Clementine to shake in fear just a bit._

_The glass door to the house was locked so she decided to go through the front._

_Clementine took great care to make sure that she was quiet when she went around. She didn't want to attract attention._

_When she got passed the gate she realized that she was in trouble._

_There were walkers everywhere … and they had heard her._

_Clementine bolted away from the house. She just ran and ran and ran._

_Eventually she reached a crossroad. There was two paths to choose from._

_The right was dirty, filled with abandoned cars and dead bodies. _

_The left looked like everything before the walkers._

_It seemed like an easy choice._

_Clementine looked back to see the walkers starting to gain on her._

_She turned to run to the left when the choice got more complicated._

_Jane was standing on the right side with her hand outstretched. She was crying "Clem" every few seconds. She looked terrified for some reason._

_Jane was also covered in blood and guts, no doubt from walkers that she had killed._

_On the left were her parents, alive and well. Smiling as if nothing had ever happened, as if the dead hadn't come back to hunt the living._

_Clementine was obviously conflicted. Didn't she want to see her parents again?_

_Of course she did … but she knew that was never going to happen._

_The entire left lane transformed. Her parents were now snarling walkers, the area behind them ravaged. The streets over flowing with the dead and blood._

_Clementine ran towards Jane._

_Jane grabbed her hand and led them away._

* * *

Clementine awoke with a gasp.

She was still in the Motel, still with everyone. Everyone but her parents.

Clementine sighed.

"You alright?"

Clementine nearly flew off the bed.

"Sorry" Jane whispered

"I … I don't know." Clementine responded once she had regained her composure.

It was true that she didn't know how she felt.

"I know what that feels like." Jane muttered

Jane had this look, it was a look that spoke of unmeasurable sadness and pain.

"Jane, is something wrong?"

"N- … yes." Jane replied

"Can I help?" Clementine asked

Jane's lips curled into a smile.

"You do, more than you can imagine."

Clementine cocked her head to the side.

"How is that?"

Jane smiled then pulled Clementine in close for a hug.

"You give me something to fight for."

Clementine could feel the swell of pride and joy.

_She thinks I'm worth fighting for._

Clementine rested easier that night than she had in a long time.

* * *

**So that was the recruitment of Mark. To be honest I wasn't really happy with that, though I don't know why. I hope you guys at least enjoy the Clementine portion of the chapter, I know I did. It's fun to write from a younger Clem' perspective. I apologize if my Clem sounds more like Clem in season two than one, than was not the intent.**

**Just for clarification italics means a character thoughts, or when they are in a dream sequence. I realized that I never actually specified this but I believe most of you understood that, but again I'm saying this just in case.**

**I wanted to thank all of you who have been reviewing, I hope more of you will in the future.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back to Second Chances. I hope you all enjoy chapter four.**

Second Chances

Chapter 4: Lucky Break

* * *

Shepard slowly approached the walker she had spotted from behind. She got right behind it and put it down with her ax in one smooth motion.

It died instantly and silently.

"Damn it. What'd they get this time?" Mark asked as he walked up behind Shepard.

"A rabbit." Shepard answered

"Well, that's another meal lost." Mark sighed

The pair walked off, wanting to be rid of the smell of dead walker.

"I still can't believe that we went through that commissary food in two months. It seemed like so much at the time."

"Maybe you shouldn't have opened the door." Shepard suggested

"Yeah, except I'd probably BE food by now. Trust me, I have no regrets."

"A rabbit isn't much of a meal, but I'd take almost anything right now." Shepard muttered

"No kidding."

There was a minute of silence as they continued on, looking for something to hunt.

"When I accidentally grabbed for Carley's rations the other night, I thought she was going to take my hand off!" Mark said

"We're all on edge, cut her some slack."

"Yeah, you're right. I wish I knew for sure how much food we have left." Mark commented

"You'll have to talk to Lilly, she's handling the rations." Shepard remarked

When Lilly volunteered for that job Shepard had been tempted to stop her, after all it was easy when there was lots of food around … but the second things got bad everyone would start to turn on her.

Which is exactly what happened.

The only thing that had stopped was that she had other issues to focus on at the time. Mainly getting their water stores at a more comfortable level, which she had.

"Or mishandling it if you ask Kenny." Mark replied

"He's worried about Duck getting enough to eat. I worry about the same thing for Clementine."

"I noticed when you tried to smuggle food to her without her seeing, again." Mark chuckled

"Yeah, the operative word being TRIED. I don't understand how such a little girl can be so perceptive at times." Shepard sighed

Ever since Clem had caught her that time right after they rescued Mark, Clementine seemed to become hyper-aware of her food. Shepard had only succeeded half a dozen times between then and now.

The only good thing that came out of that whole situation was that Clementine was learning to become very aware, which would be something that she was going to need these days.

"You think Kenny is having more luck out here than we are out here?"

"I sure hope so." Shepard replied

"Yeah, between the lack of food and Kenny and Lilly fighting all the time, things are getting pretty tense at the Motel. You know Kenny's been talking about taking off if he can get that RV working." Mark stated

"Kenny won't abandon us. He's a good man, just a bit rash at times."

"I guess we'll see." Mark replied

There was a hint of doubt in Mark's words though.

"I can't blame him, though – did you hear Larry going off on him last night?" Mark asked

_Who didn't hear that? I thought walkers were going to break through the gate._

"What's the old guy's deal, anyway? Seems like he's got a problem with you in particular." Mark continued

"Larry has had it out for me ever since I beat the shit out of him in front of everyone." Shepard replied

"Well, he needs to find a way to get over that and start finding a way to pull his weight. Heart problems or no, we should all be out looking for food. And I know Lilly thinks he's getting weaker, but the guy's all muscle! He's a walking pile driver! I know that I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with him." Mark exclaimed

Shepard looked through some of bushes, looking for small animals.

"I don't know how you got in a fight with that guy and won." Mark remarked

"Well I doubt I'd be Special Forces if I lost to everyone that was bigger than me." Shepard chuckled

Mark chuckled as well, until he saw something.

He sprinted to a nearby toppled tree and used it to help steady his aim.

Shepard quickly joined him.

Shepard could already make out what Mark had seen, a bird.

It was too small to be practical.

"Don't. Gunshot will bring the walkers and it's not worth the headache for a bird that small." Shepard ordered

Mark sighed and lowered his weapon.

"Yeah, I know … I'm just … really frickin' hungry."

A very pained scream rang out, scaring off the bird.

"Shit! Was that Kenny!?" Mark yelled

"I don't know. Come on!" Shepard barked

The pair tore through the woods towards the origin of the scream.

Shepard took a moment to try and figure out which direction the scream had come from.

The scream rang out again, letting them correct their course.

They ended up in a large clearing, where there was a total of three people. All of them strangers.

When they got close Shepard recognized some sort of trap, which had caught the oldest person in the group.

He was letting out pained groans.

He was conscious, and his injury looked very painful.

"Jesus Christ …" Mark whispered

Their whole group turned to them.

"Oh Shit! No. No … please don't kill us! We just want to help our teacher! We've leave, I swear!" The kid with black hair said quickly

Kenny burst from the bushes.

"Shepard! You guys ok?" Kenny asked

"Get if off! Get it off, God Damn it, get it off me!" The trapped man screamed

"Travis, maybe they can help!" the blonde kid said

"These might be the same guys that raided our camp … and we barely got away from that!" Travis answered

"What the Hell happened?!" Shepard asked

"Mr. Parker said we should stay off the streets! We were trying to be careful but …"

Mr. Parker let out a particularly pained groan.

"Shepard, this is fucked up! We've gotta help them!" Mark stated

"PLEASE!" The blonde kid exclaimed

"Ben, shut up! My dad was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing!" Travis yelled

"That sort of thinking doesn't work when the other person IS Special Forces." Shepard stated

The two kids paled a bit.

"Just see if you can get him out! After that you can leave us or whatever, I don't care! Please!" Ben begged

"We've gotta get him out of there!" Shepard said to her people

"Oh God thank you."

"Shepard, this trap's been altered. It doesn't have a release latch." Mark said frantically

_Shit_

"Oh no." Travis muttered

Shepard looked up and noticed the problem immediately.

Walkers were coming from everywhere.

"Cover my back."

"Fine, just hurry." Kenny stated as he took aim at the first walker.

Mark was right, the release latch was missing.

Shepard yanked at the chain but that was surprisingly sturdy. Whoever had set this thing knew what they were doing. The trap was also in good condition so Shepard wasn't able to break its components off.

Shepard tried to peel the thing of his foot, but she was weak with the lack of food. It didn't work.

That only left one solution.

Shepard pulled out her axe.

"No please, check the chain again!" The man frantically screamed

"I'm sorry, no other choice."

Shepard crouched down and used a piece of cloth and a thick branch that was on the ground as a tourniquet.

Shepard stood back up.

The walkers were almost on them.

Shepard swung, cutting though his entire leg in two swings.

He passed out.

Mark turned towards Shepard.

"Is he ..."

"He passed out." Shepard replied as she lifted him onto her shoulders in an advanced fireman's carry.

"If he's alive then grab him and let's go."

"Let's go!" Shepard screamed.

She watched as Kenny and Mark disappeared into the bush.

The kid name Ben was also right behind her.

That was one person short.

Travis was puking by a lone tree, probably because of the man's leg.

Walkers were right behind him.

"TRAVIS!" Ben screamed as he moved to help.

Shepard managed to grab his arm before he could go.

_He's already dead._

Travis turned to realize that he was cornered, and as Shepard had guessed he panicked, leaving him an easy target for the walkers.

Travis was overpowered and consumed.

Shepard was sick of kids dying in front of her.

Shepard bolted back towards the Motel, with Ben right behind her.

When they had caught up to Kenny and Mark they had just about reached the Motel.

Shepard emerged from the bushes to find herself standing in front of the Motel.

"OPEN THE GATES! WE HAVE WOUNDED!" Shepard yelled out

The gates were almost immediately opened.

Shepard rushed, ignoring most of the comments as she lowered the man into the back of a pickup truck.

Katjaa was at her side almost instantly and the two of them set to work.

It was strange being considered the best doctor among the group.

During N7 training at the Villa one of the many required courses was First-Aid. Shepard had been very well suited to it, not panicking at the sight of blood and her almost inborn inability to panic.

Her training came in handy in situations like this.

The problem was that Shepard was no Chakwas, and she didn't even have Medi-gel. The medical supplies they had to work with were ... inferior.

It certainly didn't help that Shepard had removed this man's leg with an axe that she had killed several walkers with, one five minutes before the hasty amputation.

She had wiped it as best as she could beforehand but there was no way to know if this man had been infected until a few days later.

Shepard would be watching him carefully.

It took about ten minutes but they stabilized him. The tourniquet certainly had helped matters.

Shepard wiped the blood off her hands on a nearby towel that was brought out for them.

"Shepard!"

Shepard turned to see a very angry Lilly.

"Something wrong?" Shepard asked, faking ignorance.

"What the Hell! You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?!"

"Hey! You wanna calm down for a fucking minute?!" Kenny angrily retorted

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Larry yelled

"No, I don't! I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea?!" Lilly screamed

"He would have died if we left him." Shepard explained, her nerves starting to fray.

"So what?" Larry asked coldly

_Ugh_

"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across! We have to focus on OUR group! Right here. Right now." Lilly said

Lilly's hand got dangerously close to Shepard's face as she ranted. Lilly was lucky that Shepard hadn't taken it off.

"Well, hang on. We haven't even talked to these people yet! Maybe they can be helpful!" Carley noted

Shepard gave Carley a small grin for the assistance.

"Come on, Lilly. These are people! People trying to survive just like us. We've gotta stick together to survive!" Mark said

_If that line of reasoning didn't work on the Council is sure as Hell isn't going to work on Lilly._

"The only reason you're here is because you had food. Enough for ALL of us. But that food is almost gone, we've got maybe a week's worth left, and I don't suppose any of you are carrying groceries, are you!?" Lilly sneered

"No" Ben answered lamely

"Fine. You guys fight it out, then. Welcome to the family, kid." Mark said as he left

"Come over here and see what I drew." Clementine told Ben, obviously trying to get him away from Lilly and Larry.

"What? No I …"

"Just come on, ok." Clementine replied

Clementine pulled him away.

Shepard gave Clementine a small smile to show her appreciation.

"You know, you like to think you're the leader of this little group, but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!" Kenny said accusingly at Lilly

"Oh, come on! You're being dramatic! Everything always turns into a power struggle between you two. I'm not going to be a part of that." Carley spat as she took her turn to leave

"Hey! I didn't ask to lead this group. Everyone was happy to have me distributing the food when there was enough to go around, but now that it's running out, suddenly I'm a goddamn Nazi!" Lilly retorted

To be honest Lilly was right, at least about the food part.

"This is all a little irrelevant. If we don't get food soon it won't matter who the Hell is in charge." Shepard pointed out

"No, Shepard, it does matter! ONE person can't be in charge of EVERYTHING! You know, it might feel safe for you to sit on the fence, but sooner or later you're gonna to have to decide what side you're on!" Kenny ranted right before he left.

Shepard sighed.

_I should have dealt with this problem before._

Normally Jane was great at making sure people didn't kill each when they had to work together … Jack and Miranda were perfect examples. However, this time she had been so focused on Clementine that she ignored a real problem, and now it had blown out of proportion. It would take some serious work to fix this.

"I don't see any of you stepping up to make the hard decisions! My girl has more balls than all of you combined!" Larry retorted

"Dad, please. Why don't you go help Mark with the wall?" Larry asked

It worked, and soon Larry was walking away, grumbling as he did went.

Lilly soon turned her frustration towards Shepard … again.

"You think this is easy for me?! Everyone's starting to hate me because I'm the one who rations the food. But NOBODY else wants to!" Lilly exclaimed as she walked towards the bag carrying todays rations.

"You know what? I'm not doing it tonight. You do it. There's todays food rations, but there's not enough for everyone. Good luck." Lilly continued as she thrust the food into Shepard's hands.

Shepard looked down at the rations. Two cheese and crackers, half an apple, and a strip of Jerky.

This was their mid-day rations.

Shepard looked up to see everyone eyeing her. They all had this sad hungry look in their eye.

It was heartbreaking to look at.

Shepard had already made her choices however.

Shepard walked over to Clementine, who was drawing near Duck, Carley, and Ben.

Clementine looked up from her picture and smiled at Shepard.

"Hey" Shepard said with a smile.

"Hi, Jane."

"How are you doing?" Shepard asked

"Okay." Clementine said with a shrug, though the tone suggested that she actually meant not that great.

Shepard then noticed that Clementine wasn't wearing her hat.

Shepard cocked her head to the side and asked "Where's your hat?"

"I don't know. Can you help me find it?" Clementine asked

"Of course. When was the last time you had it?"

"I had it a couple of days ago."

"Alright, I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Thank you."

Shepard noticed that Clementine had her walkie-talkie out next to her drawing.

_Isn't that thing broken?_

"That thing doesn't work anymore does it?" Shepard asked

"No. Not since it broke at the drugstore." Clementine replied sadly

"Just gonna keep it?"

"Yeah. If that's okay. I, uh, need it."

"Fine with me." Shepard replied

"It's nice to think that maybe my mom can find me."

Shepard frowned slightly.

"I'm not stupid, Jane. I know it's just pretend. But it makes me feel better." Clementine explained

Jane nodded. She could understand how something like that could help was interesting to note that she didn't mention her dad. Knowing Clementine she already knew that her dad had been bitten by a walker, not some crazy dude, as her mother had said on the radio. It was sad to know that Clementine already knew when to give up hope. That was something a child should never know how to do.

"Are you sure everything is alright? You seemed pretty down the first time I asked."

"Yeah. Is that man going to be ok?"

"I'm not sure." Shepard replied honestly

Sure they had managed to stop the bleeding but there was the possibility for infection, from the axe and the elements.

"I hope he will." Clementine replied

Shepard was about to respond when Clementine continued.

"I'm so hungry, Jane. I hope I get to eat soon."

Shepard pulled out the half apple from her pocket.

"Here" Shepard said

Clementine's face lit up instantly.

"I love apples. Thank you. Are there more?"

"No sweetie. That was the last one."

"Oh, um …"

Clementine eyed the apple regretfully. She tried giving it back to Shepard.

Shepard chuckled.

Clementine was such a sweet girl.

"Enjoy it. You deserve it." Shepard said

Clementine nodded … hesitantly.

Shepard gave Clementine a quick hug before getting back up.

Duck was the next person to receive food, getting a piece of jerky. Which he took the same way he took just about everything … with a contagious smile.

Shepard pulled a nearby seat next to the one Carley was sitting in.

"Hey, Shepard. You alright? Lilly went down pretty hard on you."

Shepard shrugged.

Compared to most things she'd been through that wasn't really that bad. It was just irritating.

"Lilly has a right to voice her concerns. I just wish she would be ... more tactful about it." Shepard carefully replied

Carley snorted.

"You doing alright?" Shepard asked

"Good enough, just wish that Kenny and Lilly could get over their issues."

"Don't we all?"

"Apparently they don't." Carley replied

Shepard nodded.

Shepard held out a thing of cheese and crackers.

"I know you said I don't owe you anything … but I want you to have it." Carley

Shepard sighed.

"Bye Carley." Shepard said, she knew there was no point in arguing further.

Doug was near the wall … messing with some bells.

Shepard approached.

"Hey, Doug."

Doug hit his head on the bells as he rose up.

"AH! What's up Shepard?" Doug said when he was finally standing.

"What's that?" Shepard said, pointing towards the bells.

"I've worked up a little 'warning system' for outside."

"How does it work?"

"I set up trip-lines at four locations, and each one triggers one of these four bells. So …"

"So we'll know where they are and how long until they get here. Smart." Shepard said

Shepard always liked Doug. He was a hardworking man, and he had some great ideas. In fact the only thing he lacked was firearm training. However, the group was pretty solid in that department.

Shepard held out a cheese and crackers.

"I want you to have it, I owe you more than a cheese and crackers."

Shepard sighed.

Doug and Carley never let it go that she had saved their lives once.

It was appreciated but it made doing things for them much more difficult than it had to be.

"I'm assuming that's your final answer." Shepard stated

Doug nodded.

"Ugh … Carley gave me the same explanation. You guys are a little too generous and thankful some times to fit in this group. See you later Doug." Shepard chuckled

Doug nodded and went back to work.

Larry and Mark were working nearby.

Shepard approached Larry.

"Will you hold the damn board steady?" Larry demanded

"I'm trying. I didn't realize I was getting this weak already." Mark explained

"What do you want? A handout. I've got sixty cents in my pocket if you'll shut up and stop being such a pansy." Larry retorted coldly

"Hey, back off Larry. Unlike you he hasn't had that much food in a while." Shepard sneered

Larry gave her a death glare, which she returned with her own.

They were like that for a minute or two.

"You need to talk to Lilly about getting along with Kenny." Shepard stated, moving the conversation along.

"Lilly can make her own friends."

"It's not about making friends, it's about working together. They are going to tear this place apart if they don't get their act together soon." Shepard explained forcefully

"Eh, stuff all that. We'd be fine without you." Larry retorted

Shepard felt her teeth clench, she was determined not to start a fight though.

"Lilly thinks we should throw these new people out." Shepard continued

"Damn right. There's too many people hanging around here as it is."

"Need any help with the wall?" Shepard asked

"Nope."

"Actually, we could use your axe. Mind if we take it?" Mark asked

"Yeah, give us that thing for a bit." Larry said in agreement with Mark.

"Here, Mark. This should help." Shepard said as she passed on the axe.

"Thanks"

"Hey, I'm the one doing all the work over here. You didn't think to give ME the axe?" Larry replied

Shepard should have realized that she would have offended Larry.

"Come on, Larry. Give it a rest. I know that Shepard might have beaten you down that ONE time but we need to work together now."

Larry grumbled before returning back to work.

_At least he didn't try to deny it._

Shepard could respect that a small amount.

Before Mark went back to it Shepard passed him a cheese and crackers.

"Thanks"

Shepard was left with one more piece of food.

She could eat it.

_Others have gone longer without food than me._

Shepard stashed it in her pocket and headed back to Carley.

Shepard held out the food to Carley again.

"Shepard, you need to eat. You should have it." Caley stated

"I'm fine, you need to eat." Shepard responded

Carley looked over to Clementine.

_Don't you dare._

"Clem, can you help me out."

"Jane, when was the last time you ate. I don't even remember the last time Lilly gave you food." Clementine said immediately, like she was waiting to be asked her opinion.

Shepard was about to answer when Carley did it for her.

"Yesterday."

Clementine gave Carley a confused look.

Shepard winced, knowing what was about to happen.

Yesterday, Shepard passed on a pair of cheese sticks to Clementine, pretending that they were for the eight year old.

"Those cheese sticks were supposed to be for Shepard." Carley said, sealing Shepard's fate.

Clementine looked back at Jane with a face full of hurt and anger.

"You said they were mine." Clementine stated, a hurt tone coloring her words

"Clem, I …"

Clementine just started at her with those puppy dog eyes.

"Eat … please." Clementine begged

Shepard submitted to Clementine's wishes.

Shepard felt extremely guilty as she wolfed the food down.

She looked back at Carley.

"Bitch."

Carley smile was ear to ear.

"Swear" clementine said

Shepard sighed and went back to Lilly.

"Not so easy, huh."

"Never said it was, actually." Shepard remarked

Kenny soon joined her.

"Kenny I'm sorry …"

"Hey, it was a tough choice, but you took care of the kids. Still, I guess some people aren't gonna be happy about your choices."

"You're out?! What happened to my food?" Larry demanded

"There's none left."

"You keep treating people like this and your days in this group are numbered!"

"You're one to talk old man." Kenny retorted

"Yeah, well I don't see you working on that wall!"

"And I don't see you looking for food with the rest of us." Shepard retorted

Larry stormed away in rage. Kenny sighed and also took his leave.

Shepard looked back up to Lilly.

"I wanted to let you know that not everyone hates you for doing the best you can. You actually have my respect for it."

Lilly tried to hide it but Shepard saw relief and a bit of joy creep into her features.

"Shepard. Kenny" Katjaa called

They both answered quickly.

"How is he?" Kenny asked

"He's good for now but that could change quickly. Can you two take him to one of the rooms?" Katjaa asked

The pair brought him back to one of the back rooms.

Normally this room was their store house for food but … it still was in a way. It was just an empty store house now.

Shepard put him gently on the bed.

"Thanks, you know … for everything."

Shepard turned to see Ben at the door.

Kenny didn't say anything, choosing this moment to leave.

"You're welcome, and don't worry about what Lilly said. I'll make sure she doesn't kick you out."

Ben nodded and left.

Shepard closed the door to the room, leaving Mr. Parker to recover.

Shepard spent the next few hours cleaning their weapons. She had been imposing this task on herself more and more lately. By the time she was done the sun was starting to set.

Kenny took his place for the night-shift tonight.

Shepard was relieved that it wasn't her tonight, she was exhausted.

Shepard slowly crawled into bed.

She closed her eyes when she felt a familiar smaller body wrap around Shepard's midsection.

"Still mad at me?" Shepard asked

"No" Clementine whispered

"Good" Shepard said with a smile

"Is that man ok?"

"For now. He wasn't conscious last time I saw."

"What are we going to do with them?"

"I'm assuming you mean the new people. I don't know really. Lilly and Larry want to kick them out, but … I'm not sure I can do that. What do you think?"

"I think they should stay."

"Why?" Shepard asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"It is. Don't worry I'll make sure Lilly doesn't do anything drastic."

Shepard smiled at the thought that Clementine still had her better nature despite everything that had happened so far.

The same could not be said for either Lilly or Larry or Kenny. It was an unfortunate truth that bad situations could turn decent people into monsters. Not that they were there yet. But they were all on the road to it.

It was something that Shepard was afraid she was going to become.

Ever since she had become a Spectre, Shepard had always played on the side of morally right. It was a rule that she stuck by when everything else failed. Some people called her weak for it, saying that she couldn't do what needed to be done. But in the end everything that she had done had paid off.

But here, there was no sign of the end. It had been three months and the military never showed up. So either they had been abandoned or this was happening everywhere.

Shepard shuddered at the thought that this could be happening everywhere.

Shepard relaxed and soon was asleep.

* * *

Shepard awoke to the sounds of yelling.

Shepard sighed.

Shepard was surprised that Clementine wasn't still sleeping, in fact she wasn't in the room.

Shepard quickly pulled on her clothes and headed back outside.

As expected there was an argument.

It was slightly surprising to see it wasn't Kenny who was arguing with Lilly.

Since it was Carley it wasn't that surprising either.

Shepard made her way down.

"Damn it, Carley! That isn't yours to give."

"I just thought the guy who lost his LEG could at least have a snack bar. Are you really so cold as you won't allow that?"

"He's not our problem!"

"Of course he is! He's missing a fucking LEG! He can't leave even IF we wanted them to." Carley continued

Shepard immediately pushed her way in between the two, before something happened.

"Lilly come on, the least we could do is part with ONE snack bar. It won't make a huge difference."

"Well then someone needs to forfeit their rations for the day. Do you think that anyone is going to do that?"

There was only silence.

Lilly smiled smugly.

"I will."

Shepard turned to look at Clementine.

"Clem-"

"I've had food for the last two days." Clementine pointed out.

Shepard gave Clem a disapproving look.

"Ugh, fine. You guys want to waste food on strangers go ahead." Lilly sneered before she stormed off

Carley shook her head disapprovingly at Lilly's retreating form.

"Thanks for the help." Carley said

"No problem." Shepard replied

Shepard turned back towards Clementine to see her giving the snack-bar to Mr. Parker.

Shepard smiled at Clementine's generosity. It showed just how selfless she was.

She just wished Clem could have done that and eat.

Clementine walked back to her when she was done speaking to Mr. Parker.

Shepard crouched down.

"That was a nice thing for you to do." Shepard said

"It seemed like the right thing to do."

"It was, and I'm proud of you for having the courage to do that."

Clementine beamed at the compliment.

"I'll going to go talk to Mr. Parker. I'll come back when I'm done."

Clementine nodded and went towards Duck.

Shepard made her way over to Mr. Parker.

"Is there anything else you need?" Shepard asked

"No … I'm fine, well as fine as I can be."

Shepard nodded.

She was glad he wasn't yelling at her for taking the leg off.

"Have you been introduced to everyone?" Shepard asked

He shook his head.

Shepard took a moment of point everyone out for him. Being a teacher he had some experience with having to learn people's names fast.

"So what were you doing in the woods?"

Mr. Parker paused.

"Running."

"From?"

"There … there were these bandits that raided our camp. They rounded up all of us and separated the men and the woman."

Shepard did not like where this was going.

"They … they made us watch as they … raped a few of my students to death. Once that was done they took everything of value and sent us off."

Shepard sighed. She wasn't surprised that shit like this was going down.

That was the scary part. That she wasn't surprised.

Disasters really did bring out the inner monsters in people.

"I'm sorry. I can't even imagine what that was like. Did Ben …"

"Yes"

Shepard sighed again.

Shepard decided to move on, there was no point staying on this topic.

"My name is Shepard by the way. Forgot to mention."

"David"

"Well you can feel safe here. We rarely have to deal with walkers … and never bandits. You and Ben will be safe here."

David looked surprised by that revelation.

"You're not …"

"Going to kick you out? No, I'm not. Don't worry about Lilly and Larry. Their bark is worse than their bite. I'm not going to leave a kid and an injured man out there." Shepard replied

Thank you" David sighed in relief

Shepard nodded.

"If you need anything, just ask me or Carley."

"I was wondering, do you have anything I can use to … walk."

David had a hard time saying that last part and she didn't blame him.

Shepard racked her brain for ideas.

Shepard snapped her fingers as a light bulb went off.

"Yeah, I'll be right back."

Shepard quickly got the pair of crutches that were in the garbage pile in the back of the Motel.

Originally there wasn't anything to use them for so they just tossed them in the back.

Shepard helped David adjust the crutches until it fit his height.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

Shepard nodded.

Shepard turned to leave.

"Thank you, for everything that you've done for me and Ben." David said

Shepard turned back and gave him a small smile.

DING!

Shepard turned to see that one of Doug's alarms had gone off.

Everyone crouched down.

Shepard made her way to Doug, who was near the tripwire system. Carley joined them.

From where they were she could see a pair of men coming from the right of the Motel. Though one had tripped over the wire, causing the other to help him up.

Carley took the moment to gain the upper hand.

"BACK OFF!"

The pairs head's snapped up to stare at Carley's raised Glock.

"Woah, lady, relax. Me and my brother, we … we just want to know if y'all help us out."

"I said BACK OFF!"

Lilly approached the gate.

"Carley." Lilly whispered

"We don't want trouble." Shepard cut in, being the diplomat … as usual.

"Of course. Neither do we. I'm Andy St. John. This here's my brother Dan. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks have the motel locked down, which is fine, but if you could spare any gas we'd be much obliged."

"Why do you need gas?" Carley asked

"Our place is protected by an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity." Dan answered

_That's an interesting idea._

"Our generators run on gas. Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If y'all be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade."

"How y'all ding on food? We've got plenty back at the dairy."

Shepard felt her stomach grumble at the word food.

"Shepard, why don't you and Mark check the place out, see if it's legit." Lilly suggested

"I'm going with you. I got your back if any thing seems fishy." Carley answered

"Me too. I want to see this fence. Might help with a few ideas I have about the wall." Doug added

"So what y'all thinking?" Andy asked

"We have a deal. We'll bring SOME gas to your dairy. In exchange you'll give us SOME food to take back. We'll see where it goes from there." Shepard replied

"Seems fair. A couple gallons should power one of our generators for a while." Andy answered

Shepard nodded, directing the group that would be going toward the gate.

"Please be careful." Clementine said

"I will, promise." Shepard replied with a mile.

Clementine nodded and gave her a little wave before Shepard left.

The beginning part of the journey was awkward silence as both groups sized each other up. No one had started to shoot, meaning that things were going better than Shepard had expected

_I've become rather cynical haven't I?_

About an hour later Mark broke the silence.

"So, this dairy … you guys really have food?" Mark asked

"Sure do. We've lost most of the cattle, but we still have lots of milk, butter, and cheese stocked up." Andy answered

"And with the vegetables we grow, we've got plenty of food."

Shepard started to slow down just a bit so that she could talk privately with Doug and Carley.

"It's nice to get away from the Motel for a while. This Lilly/Kenny thing is starting to get ridiculous. Personally I'd be happier if you started to take charge more often." Carley said

"I agree. It would certainly be quieter." Doug replied

Shepard chuckled.

It was strange that Shepard was not automatically associated with being the leader, at least to her. Normally she always took charge and everyone looked to her as the leader. The Reaper War showing that occurrence at the extreme.

Shepard was convinced that subconsciously she had withdrawn from it just a bit. She was sick of being in charge all the time. It was nerve wracking having everyone's lives riding on you. Especially after years of that already.

Shepard knew that she would end up taking back the mantle of leader, but she was determined to enjoy what small comforts she could get while it lasted.

"I mean thank God Shepard showed up when she did!" Mark said to the brothers and Ben.

"Right Shepard?" Mark continued, looking over his shoulder towards her.

"Yeah, why don't you tell us more about yourself, Shepard?" Andy stated as he slowed down to walk next to her. Danny followed Andy's lead.

"Where are you from?" Danny asked

_Mindoir._

"Baltimore." Shepard lied

Her mom had been from Baltimore, though.

Andy nodded.

"Y'all seem pretty settled in at that Motel. Who's running things over there?" Andy asked

"Depends who you ask. I'll like to think that we all work together as a group, looking out for each other." Shepard replied

"I hear that! There are so many dumbasses out there fighting each other these days … it's just stupid." Andy remarked

"Who many people y'all got over there?" Danny asked

"Enough to defend ourselves." Shepard answered vaguely

That response had served two purposes. First, to let the brothers know that they were capable of defending themselves. Second, to make sure they didn't know their exact numbers for now, just in case things went to shit.

"Well that's good! It's getting dangerous out there, well, you guys know." Andy replied

Thankfully it didn't sound like he had gotten offended by that answer.

"Well, we'd love to get you all out to the dairy. Like I said we've got plenty of food, and quite frankly, we could always use an extra helping hand." Andy continued

"In the summers, I used to help out on a goat farm." Ben stated

"Yeah, that's great. Everything helps!" Danny replied

"Momma's been running the dairy for as long as I can remember but now it's getting …"

"You think you're going to cut me out of this!?" Someone yelled

"Shit! Get down!" Andy whispered

Everyone crouched down immediately.

They made their way to a small overpass. One that happened to let them see the two strangers they heard arguing.

"No one is trying to cut you out of anything!" the second person replied

"Fucking bandits." Danny whispered

"Who?" Mark asked

"Those guys look like the people that raided my camp." Ben stated

"There's only two of them." Carley whispered

"Oh no, there's a lot more of 'em." Danny answered

"Don't worry. Danny and I got you covered if something happens, but let's just wait this out and hope they move on." Andy said

The first man they heard gave the second a kick to the groin, and a shotgun blast to the chest.

Ben gasped.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" The man repeated as he continued to shoot his former companion in the chest.

"Jesus!" Carley whispered

The man walked away calling his former brother-in-arms an asshole just before he disappeared.

_Damn._

"The world out here has gone to shit. Come on, let's get to the diary where it's safe."

"Wait, that guy didn't scavenge from his buddy. I'll be right back." Shepard said as she took off to grab the man's weapons.

She heard some protests but she was in the open before anyone could do anything.

The man was missing a very large chuck of his chest.

Shepard started to go through his pockets, finding a generous amount of ammunition, when she heard a groan.

Shepard looked up to see the 'man' do the same.

His eyes were glazed and grey like a walker.

It tried to tackle her to the ground but she threw it off in time.

Shepard picked up the man's rifle and beat the walker to death with it.

_Did the other guy know that he was bitten?! Was that really why he killed him? Why didn't he destroy the brain?_

"You alright?!" Carley asked as she sprinted out of the tree line with everyone else right behind her.

"I'm fine, I'm just surprised our friend here was bitten."

"How do you know he was bitten?" Ben asked

Shepard resisted rolling her eyes.

"Wait … you don't know?" Andy said

"Know what?" Shepard asked

"It's not the bite that does it. You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain that's just what happens." Ben explained

"What … we're all infected?"

"I guess. But I've seen people turn who I KNOW weren't bitten."

Shepard massaged her head. This was a nightmare to hear. Everyone, no matter how you died, came back as a flesh eating nightmare.

At least they head about this before an incident happened.

"We haven't actually run into people for months. No wonder we didn't know." Shepard sighed.

The man had a rifle on him, which Shepard took, and another dozen rounds for it.

It was better than she had been expecting. That other bandit had been an idiot to leave all of this stuff here.

"Let's go." Shepard stated

It was about another thirty minutes before they started to see the outlines of the diary.

"Here it is. St. John's family dairy." Andy stated

Shepard had to admit that this place looked as if the apocalypse had completely missed it.

"Y'all can see how we've kept this place so safe." Andy said as he gestured towards the electric fence, just a touch of pride coloring his tone.

She couldn't blame him, the fence was pretty impressive and a clever idea.

The only problem that she could see would be with the children. By 'children' that meant Duck, Clementine wasn't stupid enough to touch it. Duck however was … Duck.

"The fence keeps them out?" Mark asked

"You betcha. They fry like bugs in a zapper. We're pushing 4000 volts through that thing, with generators and amps." Andy answered

"I'm going to assume that's a lot." Carley muttered

Doug crouched down near the fence to take a look at it.

Shepard guessed that he approved.

"Ever had any accidents?" Shepard asked, already weary of the fence.

The fence itself looked homemade so there was a good chance that things could get bad if someone did something stupid.

"Nah" Danny replied

"It's safer in here than out there." Andy said

"This place looks untouched! You'd never know the rest of the world was in ruins." Carley noted with excitement

"It's worth protecting, hence all the juice." Andy replied

"I thought I saw y'all with company comin' down the drive!" Said a woman coming down from the house.

Shepard guessed this was Mrs. St. John.

"Guys, this is our mama."

"I'm Brenda St. John and welcome to the St. John Dairy!" Brenda said, announcing herself.

Shepard noticed that she had a picnic basket with her.

"This here's Shepard. She's been living down at that old Motel round the way." Andy said

"They've got a few more friends staying at the old motel." Danny continued.

"Oh, my goodness, that place is pretty vulnerable. Have you got someone with survival experience to lead your group?"

_You have no idea._

"We all work together. Plus a few of us have military experience." Shepard replied, gesturing towards Mark and herself.

"Well, that's good to hear. That motel ain't the safest place. Now that y'all are here, we'll make sure you're safe and comfortable."

"Does that apply to the rest of us?" Shepard asked

"We're all incredibly hungry." Carley cut in

"These are for y'all. Baked fresh this morning." Brenda said, handed Shepard a basket of biscuits.

"Amazing!" Carley said

Shepard wondered if Carley was going to start drooling.

"Can't get stuff like that anymore, not without a cow for milk and butter, that's for sure." Danny commented

"That's right. Hopefully Maybelle will make it through this bout of whatever she's got and be with us for a good-long while." Brenda added

"Your cow is sick? What's she-" Shepard started

"We have a vet! We could bring her here! We can help you folks out." Mark interrupted

"A vet! Oh, my! Our prayers have been answered!" Brenda replied

"Maybe our whole group can come … for the day. Mark said, barely adding that last bit.

"Well how about this, y'all go get your veterinary friend, and I prepare some dinner. A big feast for all you hungry souls. It'll be nice to have some folks to help out around here again. Danny, why don't you come help me out in the kitchen." Brenda replied, sealing the deal.

Brenda and Danny went off towards the house.

"Why don't I head back with the food and round up everyone for the trip back here." Carley said

"You might wanna take someone with you. Remember, those roads can be dangerous." Andy suggested

"I can handle myself." Carley replied

"Take this." Mark said, handing Carley his rifle.

Carley slung it over her shoulder.

"Why don't you go ahead and take Ben along anyway." Mark continued

"Take care of yourself, Shepard. See ya in a while." Carley replied

Carley was about to leave when she handed out a biscuit to everyone.

Everyone tore into them. They were gone within a few moments.

"That was amazing." Mark said

"No kidding." Shepard replied

"Mark, Shepard, why don't ya take a look around. Once ya get settled in, I could use some help securin' the perimeter." Andy said

"Is there an issue?" Shepard asked

"Sometimes, the dead get tangled up in the fence before they fry and end up knocking over a post. It'd be a big help if you two could walk the perimeter. You can learn a lil somethin' about our fence. I'm gonna go top off the generators before they run dry. Come get me when you're ready." Andy explained

"You betcha." Mark said as Andy went towards the generators.

Mark turned back to her.

"This place is INCREDIBLE! It's got food! And that fence … oh man that fence! If we play our cards right, this might turn out to be a place we can stay. So how do you want to play this?"

"Before we rush off to claim our rooms we need to figure out if this place is as safe as they say." Shepard replied

"Right. Obviously THEY think it's safe, but is it safe enough for the kids? I noticed a broken swing over there. Not a big deal, but maybe there's other things not working that we just can't see yet." Mark noted

"And checking the perimeter gives us a decent way to check the defenses."

"All right, I'll keep my eyes open and you find out what you can from Andy." Mark said as he left to go check the fence.

Shepard went to check on Doug who was still looking at the fence.

"So, what do you think?" Shepard asked

"Should work as long as the walker isn't completely dehydrated."

"Should?"

Shepard hated that word.

"This is the dead we're working with."

"Good point."

"Will the kids be safe here?"

"If they don't touch the fence they'll be fine."

"If they do?"

"If we're lucky they'll be fine eventually. If not … well, there won't be anything we can do about it."

Shepard nodded.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"Do you think that this Kenny/Lilly thing is going to blow over soon, because it's starting to drive me crazy."

"It better, if not well then I'm just going to have to do something about it. I'm fed up of them whining like children, especially since the children act a lot better than they ever do." Shepard remarked

Doug chuckled.

"Doug, keep an eye out for anything interesting. I want to know as much as possible about this place before we try to make this a permanent home."

Doug nodded to show his understanding and went back to work.

Shepard went back over to the broken swing that Mark had spoken of.

The board was broken in half and the rope to one side was missing.

"Too bad it's broken. Bet Clementine and Duck would have loved something like this. It's been months since they actually got to be kids." Shepard remarked

"Kids used to like that old swing even more than the tour sometimes!" Andy remarked

Shepard chuckled

"Mind if I fix it?" Shepard asked

"No problem! That'd be great! Momma sure does appreciate you all helping out." Andy replied

Shepard walked towards the house. She wanted to have a word with Brenda before she went to work.

She opened the screen door and knocked.

Brenda answered very promptly.

"Well, hi there Shepard! What can I do for ya, sweetie?"

"Is there anything that you need help with around the house?"

"I think with Danny's help I've got things pretty well squared away in the kitchen, but feel free to check with Andy. He's got a lot of weight on his shoulders these days so I'm sure he'd love any help he can get." Brenda answered

"How have you guys been holding up since … you know?" Shepard asked

"My boys have been my saving grace. They both left their jobs and came home to help out after the attacks started happening. I think it was hardest on Andy. Dan was always more of a mama's boy, but don't tell him I said that!" Brenda chuckled

Shepard smiled at the comment.

"Your family has done an amazing job keeping this place up." Shepard noted

Amazing was an understatement. Carley was right when she said you won't have known that the rest of the world was in ruins.

"Well now aren't you sweet, thank you, She pard. The boys and I have tried to adapt as best we can, but we still keep some of our old routines to help remind us of better times."

"What happened to your staff?"

Shepard had a fairly good guess, though she hoped for a better answer.

Brenda's joy seeped away.

"We've had our share of tragedy here … just like everyone else I'm sure. Some of our staff took off to find their families soon as they heard the news. The few that stuck around … well … we lost most of 'em the first night those things showed up here. It was … a tough night." Brenda replied

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you dear."

"If anything comes up, feel free to let me know."

"Well, Shepard, I sure appreciate it."

"No problem."

Brenda closed the main door and Shepard closed the screen door.

She was about to leave when she noticed some of the ribbons up on the side of the house.

It was a pretty nice little collection.

Shepard also discovered a chest on the end of the patio.

Shepard opened it up to find rope that was long enough for the swing. She took it out of the chest and started her search for a board.

Near Andy there was a little board cutting station.

Memories of Shawn immediately reared their ugly head into Shepard's mind.

Shepard sighed.

"Mind if I use one of these boards?" Shepard asked Andy

"Already making some repairs, huh? I like a woman who takes some initiative. Yeah, go right ahead!" Andy replied

Shepard set to work and was soon rewarded with a plank that was the perfect size for a swing seat.

Before long the swing was working again.

"Clementine and Duck will love this." Shepard remarked

"Hey, nice job with the swing. Thanks for the help." Andy said

Shepard nodded and went back to go get instructions from Andy.

"I'm glad you guys decided to help us out. I noticed back at the Motel that you folks are pretty well armed. You been stockpiling, huh?"

"Anyone tries to screw with us, they'll regret it." Shepard replied

"Well, protecting your people is important, but in my experience, having that many guns around is when people get dangerous."

"Mark and I are ready to go check the perimeter now."

Mark walked up behind her.

"Oh, good. The fence stops a walker in about three or four seconds, but gets overloaded if we leave the husks out there."

"We can go deal with the walkers ourselves if you need to stay and work on the generators." Shepard commented

"We'll, that'd be great! I'll turn off the northwest section, and if you guys could strip 'em off and look for any weak points, that'd be a big help."

"Sure" Shepard replied

"Stay attentive, ya never know." Andy warned

Shepard and Mark took off for the northwest section.

* * *

They spent ten minutes out there so far and they hadn't seen anything yet.

"So how's the place looking? Is it safe enough for us to stay … if we can."

"It's impressive what they've been able to accomplish here … but let's see what's needed to secure the fence before we pass judgment." Shepard replied

"I can't wait until everyone's out here. Everyone besides Larry."

"No kidding."

"There's one." Mark said as he pointed to a nearby dead walker.

It was fried.

Shepard kicked it in the shin.

"Shepard, it's dead."

Shepard shrugged.

Shepard tried to push it off.

It was stuck however, probably because of the arrow in its neck.

"Is this guy target practice for the St. Johns?" Shepard asked

"Poor guy." Mark replied

"I don't know what got him first, the arrow or the fence. I just hope that he was already dead."

"Who do you think it was?"

"A person." Shepard sighed

Shepard yanked the arrow out of its neck, then used her axe to push the walker off.

"Let's go, I bet there is still a bit more." Shepard said as she continued along.

"Once this fence is patched up, this place will be a fortress! God, can you imagine not having to worry about the walkers anymore?"

"It's useless without gas. We might need food, but the St. Johns need gas too."

"Not many drivers these days, Shepard."

"Not a lot of people that make gas either."

"We could still scrounge up a year's worth of gas, easy."

Shepard shrugged.

"So, what's you take on the brothers? They seem to have this place tied down pretty well."

"These folks are just delaying the inevitable. This place is going to fall, just like everywhere else." Shepard sighed

Shepard hated giving bad news, but she hated giving false hope even more if she could avoid it.

"Maybe you're right." Mark sighed

"Another one." Shepard noted

"I see it."

This walker had grabbed hold of the fence and had bent it inwards just a bit when it fell forward.

"I think the hands fused to the wire." Shepard noted

Shepard chopped at the arms, leaving only the hands attached.

"You never get used to the smell, do ya?"

Shepard chuckled "Nope."

There was about a minute of silence before Mark spoke up again.

"Christ, I can't stop thinking about dinner. Thanks for the rations earlier. It's not easy eating in front of the kids, but it's all that's keeping me on my feet right now, well that and the biscuit."

"We'll go ask for more to eat after this is done." Shepard replied

"Alright, I can suck it up." Mark replied

They soon arrived at a piece of the gate that had fallen over, enough that someone could get through.

_Only people, I doubt that walkers could do it._

"He's tangle up in there pretty good. Come one, help me get this thing back in place so we can get Mr. Crispy off of here."

"We'll probably get better leverage from the other side." Shepard noted

Mark jumped over.

Shepard followed him.

They pushed the fence up right. The fence turned on as soon as they got it up.

"Holy fuck! What happened?" Mark asked

"The fences are on." Shepard replied

"Why the Hell would he turn the fence on! He knows we're out here!" Mark yelled

_Good question._

Shepard was about to reply when an arrow of all things struck Mark in the shoulder.

Shepard grabbed him before he hit the fence.

Shepard pulled out her pistol.

"Get to the gate!" Shepard ordered

They started to run that way when several arrows landed near them. They wouldn't be going through that way.

Shepard pulled Mark behind the tractor.

Someone was screaming at them from the forest.

Shepard tried to push the tractor.

It didn't budge an inch.

She noticed that there was a block under the wheel so she pulled it out and tried again.

Nothing.

An arrow flew straight above her head.

Shepard didn't have her barriers up. They burned too many calories to justify it when they had no food. Wouldn't even matter though, arrows traveled to slow for barriers to deflect anyway.

Shepard fired a single shot and laughed darkly when she heard someone scream in agony.

"You'll pay for that BITCH!" Screamed the leader.

Shepard switched the tractor into gear and tried pushing again.

It still wouldn't move.

Shepard swore under her breath.

"The plow!" Mark suggested

Shepard hadn't even seen it.

Mark was right, the plow was stuck in the ground. The lever in the back caused it to rise and Shepard gave tractor one push and it started to move.

They stayed next to the tractor.

The tractor soon hit the burned out corpse of one of the dead they had pushed off earlier.

Shepard pulled him aside and pushed the tractor again.

Then they hit yet another walker.

"Another one, how many did we push down?" Mark asked

Shepard started to pull when she realized that walker was not one they pushed down.

The walker seemed to sense that she knew when it tried to bite her.

"SHIT!" Shepard yelled as she pulled back.

Shepard ended up pulling the walker in half.

She tossed it aside.

The walker began to crawl after them but was soon put down by a stray arrow.

Shepard opened the fence, and then closed it behind Mark.

They sprinted all the way back to the house.

Andy met them right by the stairs to the house.

"Shepard, what's wrong?" He asked

"A fucking ambush. When you turned on the fence people started attacking from the woods. We were trapped in the middle." Shepard explained

Danny ran out.

"Holy shit! Are you ok?" Danny asked Mark

Shepard almost rolled her eyes.

"I … I heard Mark yell and thought y'all were giving me the all clear! Man, I am real sorry." Andy explained

"Oh, my Lord! What happened to you, sweetheart?!" Brenda exclaimed from the patio.

"It was those bastards in the woods, mama." Andy answered

Shepard's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah … I'll be alright once it's out, but, goddamn it hurts!" Mark said

That's when the rest of the group showed up.

_Lovely timing._

"Mark! Oh, my god, what happened?!" Katjaa yelled

"Christ, are you going to be ok?!" Lilly asked

"Yeah, I'm fine. I should just … pull it out."

"Oh no, honey, c'mon. Brenda's got you. C'mon inside now. We'll have you all sorted out." Breda said, leading Mark towards the house.

"What kind of shit is this?!" Larry asked

For once Shepard couldn't blame Larry for being mad.

"We ran into some people on the way up here … bandits I guess. They attacked us, I recognized the leader's voice." Shepard replied

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning, killed a bunch of our farmhands. We were able to get 'em to stop by makin' a deal." Andy said

"You KNEW about these people?" Kenny said accusingly

"Food for protection. Not like we had much of a choice, but they did stop hasslin' us." Danny continued

"God damn it, Carley said this place was locked down tight." Larry exclaimed

"It doesn't sound like this place is that safe after all." Shepard remarked

"We're sorry! We've never had them screw with is like this! Not since we started givin' em food! Listen, we may have had an agreement with this people, but we will NOT stand for this shit." Andy continued

"Ain't no way we're gonna let those sons o' bitches get away with this!" Danny said

"You know where these assholes are?!" Kenny asked

"They're hard to pin down, but I think I know where at least ONE of their camps are. When you're ready to go scope out that bandit camp come find us." Danny explained

The brothers walked back towards the house, no doubt to go get ready.

As soon as they were out of earshot Lilly voiced her opinion.

"Bandits? Are you serious? This place isn't safe, we can't stay here."

"Not safe?! This place is a Hell of a lot safer than that Motel! I think all of us and our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows. What we need to do is find a way to get our whole group out here to stay. Take this place over if we have to." Kenny objected

Shepard had to agree with Lilly on this one.

They had never dealt with bandits before, just walkers.

Walkers were slow, stupid, and predictable.

People are messing, random, and can be just as smart as you. People had always been man's worst enemy.

"Cool your jets there, Rambo. These are nice people. Let's not do anything to get us thrown out before we eat!" Larry said

His stance was surprising … and refreshing.

"I'm gonna head out and help Danny deal with these bandits. You guys should try to make friends with Andy and Brenda while I'm gone." Shepard explained

"Well that's easy. I've got charm coming outta my ass." Larry replied

Shepard rolled her eyes.

"Yeah … that's real charming dad." Lilly replied

"Where's Ben, Carley, and David?" Shepard asked

"Since Carley and Ben ate some of the food on the way to get us she volunteered to stay behind and watch the Motel until we get back. Ben is staying there with his teacher."

Shepard nodded in understanding.

Andy approached the group.

"Hey kids, Shepard managed to fix that swing while you guys were at the Motel. I just wanted to tell you guys that you can use it." Andy said to Clementine and Duck

Their faces lit up.

"A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse! Come on, Duck!" Clementine said

"Why don't you kids go and play on the swing, huh?" Kenny said

The pair ran towards the swing.

Shepard followed after Clementine just as Kenny followed after Duck.

Duck sat on the swing first.

Shepard sat down next to Clementine.

"How do you like the swing?" Shepard asked

"It's great. Thank you."

"You're welcome, honey."

"Will you push me on it?" Clementine asked

"Sure, happy to push you on the swing." Shepard said with a smile.

Shepard got back up to her feet.

"Mind if Clementine takes a turn?" She asked Kenny

"All right, Duck, let Clementine have a try for a bit." Kenny said

"Ok" Duck replied before jumping off.

Clementine got on and Shepard started to push her.

"What do you think of the dairy?" Shepard asked

"It's pretty. It reminds me of how things used to look before."

"It sure does."

"Do you think things will ever get back to how they were?"

"It will, some day. I'm surprised you forgot my answer when you asked before."

"I didn't, just … things have changed since then."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Shepard replied sadly

"How are you?"

"I'm fine I guess. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just worried a little about Mark."

"Is Mark going to be ok?"

"He got lucky. Could have been a lot worse."

"Are you going to find the people who hurt Mark?"

"We have to make sure they don't hurt anyone else."

"Be careful. I want you to stay lucky, too."

"Ever since I've met you I've had good luck, so don't worry."

"Ok"

"Don't worry, we're safe here."

"As long as the bad people don't get me too, right?"

"I won't anything happen to you, sweetie."

"Promise."

"I promise."

It felt strange to be pushing Clementine on the swing, though not in a bad way. It felt peaceful. It was a feeling she did not get very often and the times she got they were priceless to her. They were the best times of her life.

It was nice to feel this way again. It was nice to pretend that right now she was just woman pushing her kid on a swing. For the first time in years she felt normal again. Not a soldier that was fighting an undefeatable enemy with only a handful of allies.

She wasn't Commander Shepard right now. She was just Jane.

The feeling was indescribable.

**Sorry for the long wait time, writing this chapter was awful. I went through FIVE other plot lines before deciding to go through episode two.**

**I know that we have touched the edge of AU but again I haven't decided on how AU to make it. I do know that the base episodes will happen. It's just how they happen that is up to debate.**

**I was going to post the entire episode in this chapter but then I looked at the word count and decided to cut it in half. After all this chapter is more than 10,000 words. I didn't think that most of you would want to read through it in one chapter. If you guys would prefer even longer chapters just let me know in a review or P.M, though I have a feeling that won't happen.**

**I apologize for any grammar and spelling mistakes that I missed.**

**As always I am happy to read any reviews and you guys send my way.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Second Chances. As I said last time this part was originally going to be in the last chapter but the last chapter was too long as it was.**

Second Chances

Chapter 5: Dinner

* * *

**Shepard's POV**

Shepard pushed Clementine on the swing for another five minutes before she decided it was Duck's turn.

"Thanks for pushing me." Clementine said as she got off.

"You're welcome, sweetie." Shepard replied

Shepard went straight towards Danny and Andy, who were sitting on the patio.

She needed to deal with these bandits before things escalated and someone on her side actually died.

"Guys."

"How ya feeling, Shepard? I'm really sorry you almost got killed out there. We should have told you how dangerous it was." Andy said

"No shit" Shepard replied coldly

"You saw what they did to your buddy. Nobody's safe here until we start to fight back." Danny remarked

"You have an idea?"

"The two of us should go out and do some recon, then we'll all mount up for some revenge." Danny explained

"Hell yeah." Andy chimed in

"Who the Hell are these people?" Shepard asked

"We don't know. We think some of 'em used to work at the big box up the way." Andy speculated

"Save Lots." Danny clarified

"Yeah. Anyway, they're nutty as Hell. And get mad when they're hungry." Andy continued

"So, are ya ready to head out there and find their camp?" Danny asked

"Yeah."

"I'll stay here and hold down the fort." Andy remarked

"Remember: we're just doing reconnaissance for now. No use getting ourselves killed." Danny noted

_I'm pretty sure I know a lot more about this sort of thing than you do._

Danny grabbed his rifle and started walking towards the front. Shepard followed him.

When they were about to leave Clementine came running up to her.

"Are you going now?" She asked

"Yeah. I'll be back soon, Clem." Shepard said reassuringly

"Please be lucky."

"I will." Shepard replied

Danny and Shepard headed off.

* * *

It took about an hour before Danny had remarked that they were getting close.

Shepard was watching the tree line for the slightest hint of movement.

"See anything?" Danny asked

"Not yet."

"I know it's around here. It's gotta be close."

Shepard found a small soup can sitting on the ground.

_Very close._

They continued on.

"Here" Shepard whispered

Danny raised his rifle and she drew her pistol.

Shepard went from tree to tree, trying to stay in cover as she scoped out the camp.

She couldn't see anyone.

"You see anyone?" Danny asked

Shepard shook her head.

They entered the camp.

"Watch my back, Shepard. I'm going to check out the tent."

Danny approached the tent slowly. Danny then pulled down the flap.

"Clear." Danny muttered

He then turned around.

"This camp's too small. It can't be their main base."

_No kidding._

"Take a look around anyway. There's probably some shit around here they stole from us." Danny remarked

Shepard nodded.

They could always use more supplies.

This camp seemed surprisingly empty, though.

There was a box from the Save-lots however.

"What's in the box?" Danny asked

_Why does he sound nervous all of a sudden?_

"Nothing, just boxes from the Save-lots."

"The first few days, they told folks to gather to the Save-lots by the interstate." Danny replied

There were a few empty St. Johns boxes too.

Nothing to take really, and that was really disappointing.

The whole damn place seemed empty.

Shepard, however, did find a video camera. All the good that would do.

"What'd you find?" Danny asked

"A video camera."

"Lemme see that."

Shepard pushed the play button, and unsurprisingly nothing happened.

"Battery's dead." Shepard remarked

She paid close attention to how Danny reacted.

"Oh, good." Danny remarked

THAT was a red flag.

"What else they got over here? Let's see if we can find anything useful then get a move on." Danny remarked as he went to go search the table she had been at before.

"I see you handle that pistol pretty well. You a hunter?" He asked as she started searching.

"No, I was military before all this."

"I bet that's come in handy."

"Yeah, it sure has."

Shepard went to check the tent for herself.

Inside was a picture of a woman and her daughter, and a stuffed bunny doll.

_Hope you're ok, kid._

Shepard noticed a bulge in the second sleeping bag.

Shepard found something that she REALLY hadn't been expecting.

Clementine's hat.

"What the fuck?" Shepard whispered

"Don't fucking move!" said a voice

Shepard turned to see a woman aiming a crossbow at her.

"SHIT!" Danny yelled

_Nice job keeping watch._

"Put your guns down." The woman said

Shepard raised her pistol.

"I ain't going back. You tell 'em Jolene ain't going back!"

"Hey! We had a deal! No shooting as long as we gave you food! What the fuck happened!" Danny yelled

"You had a deal with THEM. I ain't THEM!" Jolene retorted

The emphasis on them told Shepard all she needed to know.

Jolene hated them.

"I know you. I know what you are, I know what you do." Jolene said accusingly to Danny

That caught Shepard's attention.

"You don't know me." Danny replied defensively.

"Steal my shit! Steal EVERYTHING from me!" Jolene yelled

"Why are you alone up here? What happened?" Shepard asked

"That's a Hell of a question, miss. They told me I'd be safe with them … Men who lived here. But it weren't safe. Not for me, and not for my girl. They didn't treat her nice. Not at all. They took her away, into the woods. Wouldn't tell me where. And I begged 'em. Every way I could think. They just laughed … So I killed 'em. Ha-ha-ha-ha. And I'm staying here 'til she comes back to me. One way or another … she'll come back. Now maybe you didn't hear me last time … when I asked you sweet … put your DAMN GUNS DOWN!"

Shepard sighed.

She knew exactly what happened to her … and her daughter.

All of that had broken her.

"You think I won't kill you? I'm gonna take this here crossbow, and put a nice sharp arrow, right through your eyeball. And into your goddamn brain." Jolene ranted

Shepard prepared to take a shot … but only if she had to.

"You're not a man. You're a monster. All men are monsters. Take what they want and destroy it all! Take a little can of beans, take a little girl … it's all the fucking same to you!" Jolene said to Danny

"Where did you get this hat?" Shepard asked, but not forcefully. She didn't want to push Jolene.

"The little girl."

"You STOLE if from her?" Shepard asked, her protective nature of Clementine starting to come out.

"So what if I did? You stole her from ME!" Jolene yelled

As Shepard had feared Jolene was delusional. The pain of losing her daughter causing her mind to fracture. Clementine was probably an attempt to keep it together, at least subconsciously.

"I've been with her since this all started … she isn't your daughter. Please, put the crossbow down. I swear … we aren't going to hurt you." Shepard said

"You know what? I changed my mind … I'm putting this arrow right through your BALLS. Yeah! Right through. String 'em up on that tree." Jolene said to Danny.

Shepard wasn't sure Jolene had heard her.

Shepard needed to get through to her now.

"Look, there's two of us, and one of you. No matter what happens, one of us would end up killing you." Shepard remarked

If reason wasn't going to get through to her all Shepard had left was threats.

She didn't expect success but she had to try.

"Like you could kill me. They couldn't kill me. They tried. Killin' everywhere. Take all the dead folks you want, we'll make more!" Jolene remarked

Shepard sighed.

"Go on, tell him, boy! Tell him what you got in mind for-"

A shot rang out … and Jolene fell over, her brains flying out the back of her head.

Shepard wished that Jolene had finished that sentence.

Normally she wouldn't have listen to someone so obviously lost in their own delusions … but she had already gotten a bad feeling from the St. Johns ever since Mark got shot.

This woman had answers and Danny had killed her for it. It was as plain as day to see.

Shepard knew when to play the ignorant card, however.

"Goddamn it." Danny remarked

"It was a clean kill." Shepard remarked

It technically was, too. Jolene was armed after all and was obviously a danger to herself and others.

But that wasn't the reason that Danny killed her.

"It's a clean shot through … right through the forehead. That's good shootin' right here. Still, what a waste."

"So I guess that's it then. We going back?" Shepard asked

"If they ain't here, I don't know where they are. And it ain't a good idea to go tromping though the woods looking for them. So, yeah, we head back. Once they see this … they'll get the message." Danny explained

Shepard grabbed the woman's crossbow and the spare bolts that she had on her.

Shepard gave Jolene one more look before going on.

* * *

It was starting to get late when they got back.

"Man, that was a Hell of a ride, wasn't it?" Danny asked

Shepard nodded disapprovingly at the remark.

That was disrespectful to Jolene ... and that was nothing compared to what SHE called a Hell of a ride.

Fighting the Reaper on Rannoch was a HELL of a ride. Not that.

"What? You ain't getting' soft on them, are you? Not after what they did to your friend!" Danny replied

"You're back! What happened?" Brenda asked from the patio.

"Handled it momma." Danny answered

Brenda sat on the stairs and Shepard went up to talk to her.

"This isn't what Terry would've wanted …" Brenda remarked

"Terry?"

"My husband. Miss him every day."

_I know how that feels._

"Then screw it up for everybody then, why don't you?!" Lilly yelled at Kenny

"Oh calm down, princess. I'll do it myself." Kenny retorted before storming off.

"You know what's wrong?" Shepard asked Brenda

"Dunno. Squabblin', looks like. A lotta tension with ya'll, huh?"

"They have different ideas about how we should run our group. If they don't find any common ground, this whole thing is going to fall apart." Shepard answered truthfully

"Nah, it's just tough times. Everyone's hungry and people get stir crazy when their tummy's empty." Brenda replied

Shepard looked down at the ground.

_I'm not sure about that anymore._

"And Shepard, don't worry your head about them bandits. I'm sorry you've seen more violence than I'da thought in your short time, but y'all are safe here. Don't worry." Brenda said

"Thanks. I should go." Shepard replied

"Don't wander too far. Dinner will be ready before you know it. And thank your friend Katjaa again for me. She and the kids are in the barn with the cow. That woman is a life saver!"

Shepard nodded and went back down to the main area.

Shepard looked towards the barn to see Clementine waving towards her. Shepard smiled and waved back.

When Clementine closed the barn door Shepard pulled out Clementine's hat.

Shepard frowned just thinking about how Jolene had stolen it.

She headed straight to the barn.

She leaned up against the wall when she got inside.

"It's okay, Clementine, you can pet her." Katjaa said

Clementine turned back towards Shepard.

Shepard smiled and nodded.

Clementine nervously approached the cow, reaching out slowly.

She touched it.

"Woah"

Clementine turned back to Shepard.

"Katjaa says Maybelle could have her baby tonight!" Clementine said excitedly

"We'll see, Clementine." Katjaa remarked

Shepard noticed a block of … something on the ground.

"What's this thing?" Shepard asked

"Daddy says it's called a salt lick." Duck answered

"Yeah, but don't lick it. It's gross." Clementine replied

Shepard turned back Clementine.

"Did you lick it?" Shepard asked, already knowing the answer.

Clementine was silent for a moment.

"I don't know."

Shepard couldn't help but smile. Clementine was adorable.

"How do you like that cow, Clem?" Shepard asked

"She's pretty."

Shepard pulled out the hat.

"Here"

"My hat! You found it! I knew you'd find it! You said you would!" Clementine said excitedly

Shepard couched down.

"Listen, did you … give your hat to anyone?"

"No"

"Did you see any strangers around the Motel who might have taken it?"

"No. Why?"

Shepard was tempted to tell her the truth … but she didn't want to scare her.

"It's probably nothing. Just let me know if you ever see anything like that."

"Ok, I will. Hey, Shepard. Do you think you'll ever have kids?" Clementine asked

"I'd like to … someday. Maybe a little girl, like you." Shepard remarked

"That's nice. You'd be a good mommy." Clementine said

* * *

"_I'd think you'd make a great mother." Anderson said, struggling to get the words out._

_ She could tell he would be gone soon. _

_She couldn't stand the thought. __Anderson had always been there for her, believed her when no one else did._

"_Uh-huh"_

"_Think how proud your kids would be, telling everyone their mom … their mom is Commander Shepard."_

"_I don't know about that. Not everything I've done is … something to be proud of." Shepard replied_

"_I'm proud of you." He whispered_

* * *

"Jane?"

Shepard looked up to see a concerned Clementine

"Yes?"

"Is something wrong?"

Shepard smiled weakly.

"No … I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

Clementine nodded hesitantly.

"Thanks for finding my hat." Clementine said

"You're welcome, sweetie."

"Do you want to pet the cow with me?" Clementine asked

"Sure"

Shepard sat next to the cow and Clementine crawled into her lap.

They pet the cow for a good ten minutes before Shepard decided she had to talk to Doug.

"Sorry, Clem. I've gotta go talk to Doug."

"Ok. Thanks."

Shepard smiled and went out to find Doug.

He wasn't hard to find. He was looking at the generator.

Always working.

"Hey, Doug, I need to talk to you."

"Hey, Shepard. What's up?"

Shepard looked around to make sure none of the St. Johns were in earshot.

"I need you to go back and get Carley. Something is wrong here." Shepard whispered

"Shepard, what's up? You're starting to scare me."

"Something IS wrong here. I don't know what exactly but I plan to find out."

"What have you seen?"

"It's more like what I've heard. When Mark got shot Andy said he heard Mark yelling and that's why he turned on the fence. Mark only yelled out when he got shot …. AFTER the fence turned on. So Andy lied."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Plus Danny was acting all strange at the bandit camp. He was nervous when I was looking at some boxes. Then he killed the woman there when she tried to tell me something about them. Doug something is wrong here. Please, I need you to trust me."

"I do, don't worry. I'll go get Carley right now."

"Take this, and be careful."

"You too."

Shepard gave Doug her pistol and holster.

Doug nodded and took off back towards the Motel.

Shepard hoped that he could get help in time. She went back to the barn.

While Andy was distracted Shepard checked out all of the stalls.

All of them were empty … except for the last one.

It was filled with old clothes.

They smelled like death.

Shepard was glad she sent Doug out.

Shepard looked at the back door. Which was locked down tight.

"You found it too."

Shepard looked over her shoulder to see Kenny approaching.

"Shepard, they're hiding something. Behind this door. I got a quick look. They got boxes of stuff. And something metal and sharp."

Shepard nodded.

"Look, that guy with Katjaa … what's-his-name. He locked it up REAL tight the second we came in. I definitely heard a noise back there, Shepard. So go find a hammer, and I'll have this thing off in a second. You back me up in case those farmers come running."

Shepard was all for looking behind the door, but Kenny's approach was stupid.

"Hang on, man. Think this through. You smash the lock. Then what if it turns out you're wrong? You just fucked your chance to get a good meal for Duck. Use your head, Kenny."

Shepard knew something was wrong but did admit there was always the possibility that she was wrong. If she was going to find out one way or another she would do it discreetly.

"All right. What do you have in mind?" Kenny asked

Shepard looked back at the lock.

She noticed their ticket in.

"Look, see those screws? Instead of breaking the padlock, we can just take off the assembly, have a peek inside, and then replace it all again, like nothing ever happened."

"All right. Sounds like you got a plan. I'll hang around and keep an eye on that guy with the cow."

"Andy."

Kenny's face morphed into a look of surprise.

"Shit. I thought that was Danny. Whatever."

Shepard sighed.

"Can I help you find something?"

Shepard turned back to see Andy looking at them.

"Just checking out the barn here. Never been to a dairy farm before. Probably will never see another one." Shepard lied

Andy nodded.

"Ok. Well, don't just roam around without me or Danny. The farm can be a dangerous place … you know, the bandits and all. Sorry about your friend. Hey, uh … do me a favor. Don't fuck around with this door. Just, you know, Mama gets nervous." Andy said

_Was that a threat? You better hope that wasn't._

"Andrew! I need your help again." Katjaa called out

"No problem! Right away, doc!" Andy answered

Andy walked back over to the cow.

Kenny gave her a look before returning back to his family.

Shepard needed a screwdriver and a distraction.

She knew that nothing in here was going to help so she went back outside.

She could see Larry and Brenda talking by the patio.

It was funny to see this side of Larry. It was nice to see that softer side of him. She decided that after this she was going to try and mend the bridge between the two of them.

Shepard walked over to Lilly, who was sitting alone in the gazebo.

"What's going on, Shepard? Did something happen?"

Shepard took a moment to check they were alone.

"Something is wrong here. I'm trying to find out what. Don't worry I'm being discreet."

"I'm telling you, Shepard. The longer we stay here, the more trouble we're getting ourselves into."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"If you want to go in there and start rooting through people's shit, then get to it. But if it's up to me, we should take our food and go."

A good suggestion, but if they did that the St. Johns would know that they knew something.

"What were you and Kenny arguing about when I came back from the camp?" Shepard asked

"He's losing it, Shepard. He comes over and starts talking about searching the barn and that these people are hiding something. The way I see it, we need to just skip the dinner and get our food to go. But I'm starting to think your friend over there has another agenda."

"I think these people are hiding something. I just have no idea what it is."

"You two are just asking for trouble. But if you insist on wandering around, I'd be careful, Shepard."

"I promise that I will."

Lilly nodded and Shepard turned to leave.

Shepard casually wandered around, trying to figure out what would be a great distraction.

That's when the generator caught her attention.

_What better distraction is there than part of the ONLY defense you have goes down?_

Shepard then looked back at the tool-box that was on the work bench.

Shepard opened it up to find a multi-tool in it.

_This will work._

Shepard took a look around to make that no one could see her.

She was in the clear.

Shepard hit the button to turn off the generator.

The light-bulbs on the fence near her turned off.

Shepard unscrewed the front of the generator.

Inside the generator there was a belt mechanism. Shepard took off the belt and screwed the front back on.

She stood near the fence as Andy came out of the barn.

Andy started to swear at the machine as he started to work.

Shepard chuckled silently to herself as she made it back into the barn.

Shepard went to the back door. She pulled out the multi-tool when a dinner bell rang out.

"Mom! Dad! Dinner time! It's dinner time!" Duck yelled out

Katjaa chuckled out "Ok, honey. Let's get Dad."

Duck ran over to Kenny, who had walked up next to Shepard.

"Dad! Dad! C'mon, let's EAAATTT!"

"Kenny? Come along, honey. Kenny, c'mon, don't make the children wait." Katjaa said

"I'll make an excuse for ya. Get that thing off!" Kenny whispered as he turned to leave.

Shepard turned her attention on the door.

It was simple to remove all four of the screws.

Shepard slowly opened the door.

Shepard winced at the sight of the inside.

There was blood EVERYWHERE. On the walls, the floor, the tools.

She even saw a bear trap.

"Girl, didn't you hear the bell."

Shepard turned back to see Andy standing behind her.

_Great job, Kenny._

"Dinner time." Andy finished.

"Sorry, was just looking for Clementine and I found this door open." Shepard remarked calmly.

"Probably my idiot brother. Hey, was anyone with you just now?" Andy asked

"No" Shepard answered

"Not the doc."

"No" Shepard repeated

"Oh, good … Yeah. Good."

Shepard didn't like how this conversation was going.

She was confident that she could take on one Dairy farmer though, she wasn't completely starved after all.

Andy moved aside to let her take the lead.

"Ladies first." He said

Shepard took the lead back to the house.

_What the Hell was all of that?_

That's all she could think about as she walked back.

Inside everyone was getting excited over dinner.

"Excuse the mess. We had to block the back door after a walker got upstairs. Don't worry, that was a while ago and they ain't been back inside since." Andy said, pointing towards the book self near the back door.

Shepard noticed the pistol that was tucked in his pants.

She did not like that he was armed.

Shepard walked in as everyone took their seats.

Mark wasn't here.

"Where's Mark?" Shepard asked

"Now don't you worry about him. I've already brought some food up. You just let him rest." Brenda explained

"Mind if I clean up first?" Shepard asked

"Bathroom's right outside in the hall. And be sure to get under your nails, you've been muckin' around in the dirt all day."

Shepard nodded and then left the room.

* * *

**Clementine's POV**

Clementine was so excited, she was going to actually get dinner for the first time in a long while.

She was so hungry.

She WAS saving a seat right next her for Jane, but then Andy sat in it.

Clementine didn't want to be mean so she didn't say anything. At least there was a seat across from her that Jane could sit in.

Clementine looked around to see that everyone was just as excited as her.

Duck was very excited … as usual.

Brenda brought out plates for all of them.

The food looked amazing.

When Brenda was done she said "Shepard, did ya fall in?! Dinner's on the table and everyone's havin' at it."

Clementine was trying to wait for Jane but she was so hungry.

Her stomach growled.

Jane would understand.

"Barbeque! Wow" Duck said

Clementine put a napkin across her legs and picked up the knife and fork and started to cut some meat.

Everyone else had already started eating.

That's when she heard loud rapid thumping.

"CLEMENTINE, NO!"

Clementine looked up to see a very terrified Jane staring at her.

Clementine dropped the fork without hesitation.

"Shepard, did you find something?" Kenny asked

"Sit your ass down, Shepard. This lady has made you a meal." Larry said

"Yeah, Shepard. What's gotten in to you?" Lilly asked

"Stop eating, NOW!" Jane barked

"This woman made you a home cooked meal, you ungrateful shit! Show some respect!" Larry retorted

"Thank you, Larry." Brenda said

"You don't even have the DECENCY to take a handout when you're offered one. It just makes me sick, it really does." Larry continued

Clementine was really confused about what was going on.

"That's enough, Larry." Brenda said

"This woman is running a slaughter house." Jane seethed

"Shepard, what's wrong with you?" Lilly said

"Don't indulge her Lilly, always something with her." Larry said

Clementine watched Katjaa take Duck's plate away.

"They're picking us off one by one to trade as MEAT!" Jane yelled

Clementine could swear that Jane's face look a little red in places, like little red lines just underneath her skin. It was strange.

"You're out of your skull!" Larry retorted

"MARK is upstairs right now with NO LEGS!" Jane screamed

Everyone was quiet.

"In case you people have forgotten, this is a dairy. NOT A RANCH!" Jane continued

It was dead silent.

All the adults looked at each other.

Jane turned towards Brenda.

"Tell me he isn't being eaten right now!" Jane said

Everyone turned towards Brenda.

"It's true." She replied

Clementine gasped.

"Everything coulda turned out ok for you folks." Danny said

Clementine didn't like the sound of that.

"He woulda' died anyway! We gotta think about LIVIN'!" Andy said

"Settle down, honey. Growin' up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised and how I raised my boys. Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothin' but eat people. And for what? To continue to rot til' they eat some more. We think that we can put that meat to better use." Brenda explained, trying to justify herself.

There was a moment of silence as everyone pushed their 'food' away.

"Andy's right; we go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another." Brenda continued

"Like y'all" Danny said

Clementine REALLY didn't like the sound of that.

Jane snorted.

"Really, those modified bear traps in the forest say otherwise." Jane replied

_Bear traps?_

"It was you!?" Kenny yelled

Andy, Danny, and Brenda looked surprised.

They didn't deny it though.

Jane looked back at Clementine.

"Clementine, RUN!"

Clementine tried to get out of her seat.

"Nobody's going anywhere!" Andy yelled as he pulled out a pistol.

Clementine was terrified.

Danny pulled out his rifle.

"We got lots of use for y'all right here." Danny said

Larry started stuttering about something.

"Put your guns down! We're walking out of here!" Lilly yelled

Clementine knew better than to assume that would work.

Duck started asking Katjaa questions that had already been answered in typical Duck fashion.

Clementine looked back to Jane.

"Everything will be ok." Shepard said calmly.

"Jane! Jane!" Clementine said

She was scared.

Clementine then felt her hair getting pulled.

It was extremely painful, and she screamed when it happened.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Jane screamed as she made a move to go after Andy.

Danny stopped her by pointing his rifle at her throat.

Something fell down the stairs.

She could see Mark crawling on the other side of the door.

"PLLLLLEASE … SOMEONE" he said

Mark crawled across the doorway.

Clementine saw the bloody stumps that used to be legs.

Jane turned back to her.

"Clemen-"

Danny hit her in the head with his rifle.

"JANE!" Clementine screamed

Jane hit the wall and turned back in time to get hit in the head again.

She fell to the floor.

"JANE!" Clementine screamed again.

She tried to get free but Andy was too strong.

Danny pointed his rifle at the group again.

Brenda had pulled out her own pistol and had separated Duck and Katjaa from the group.

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" Kenny screamed

Brenda pointed the gun at Duck's head.

Kenny stopped.

"Kenny, Larry. Pick Shepard up. The rest of you, move slow. Y'all going to the meat locker." Danny said calmly.

Everyone did as they were told, no other choice. They were searched, anything of value was taken from them.

Andy kept holding onto her.

They eventually marched them into the barn, where Clementine saw the room that was locked before.

It was disgusting.

Blood was everywhere.

Clementine knew that they were planning on killing them.

She was so scared without Jane to help her.

_Is she … d-dead?_

They were left in the meat locker.

Kenny started pacing. Lilly was vomiting in the corner and Larry started yelling.

Clementine sat next to Jane.

Clementine noticed that no one checked up Jane. They just left her in the corner.

It made her very angry, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Jane stirred after about ten minutes.

"Jane!" Clementine said as she wrapped herself around Jane.

Jane slowly wrapped her arms around her and sat up.

"It was a person! They tried to make us eat a person!" Clementine whispered in Jane's shoulder.

"But you didn't … right?" Jane asked

"No"

"The rest of us did, God Damn it! If you hadn't dragged your feet …" Larry yelled

"C'mon, Dad. Now's not the time." Lilly said, trying to calm her dad down.

Larry started yelling at Jane again so Clementine blocked it out. After all Jane was the only reason they even found out. It wasn't her fault.

"You alright, Clem? They didn't hurt you did they?" Jane asked

"No"

"OPEN UP!" Larry screamed

"Shepard, those psychos have my family, and we're stuck in a damn meat locker! We've gotta get the fuck outta here!"

Clementine agreed, she wanted to leave.

"This god damn thumb sucker was the one who brought us here!" Larry yelled

"Will you all just shut the fuck up!?" Kenny retorted

"I'm scared" Clementine said

Jane got up and put Clementine down on her feet.

"Don't be. It's going be ok … I'm going to find us a way out of here." Jane said

Clementine believed her.

Clementine looked around for something to help Jane. They all needed to work together if they wanted to get out.

She found a rock.

Kenny was checking the wall. Larry was banging on the door, Lilly was trying to calm him down.

Jane was looking at some piece of machinery when Larry started clutching at his heart.

"Easy" Lilly said

"ERGGH! Oh God" Larry whispered

"DAD?!" Lilly asked in fear

Larry collapsed on the floor.

Clementine gasped.

"No! Dad, come on! DAD! Oh God, he's stopped breathing. I think he's had a heart attack." Lilly yelled in panic

"Shit!? Is he dead?" Kenny asked

"He's not dead. Somebody help me!" Lilly replied

"Fuuuuuuck … if he's dead …"

"HE'S NOT DEAD!"

"You know what has to happen, Shepard."

"What?"

"Ben told all of us what happened on the way over. He told us what happens when you die. He told us how FAST that bandit turned on you."

"What are you saying?" Lilly asked

"Lilly, I'm sorry. I truly, truly am. But in a few minutes, we're gonna be stuck in a locked room with a 6-fout-four, 300 pound, SERIOUSLY pissed off dead guy!"

"FUCK YOU! We can bring him back! SHEPARD!"

"We'll mourn him later. But right now we have to keep him from comin' back." Kenny said

Clementine could not believe that Kenny was suggesting that.

"NOOOOO!" she said

"God damn it, Kenny! He's not dead!" Lilly replied

"We can still save him!" Jane said

"I wish we could. Believe me, I do. But that man is dead. You BOTH know what happens next. Remember what Ben said. Gotta destroy the brain. Come on, Shepard. You can't be in the middle on this one. You've gotta have my back this time!" Kenny said

"God damn it Shepard! I NEED YOU! Please help me!" Lilly begged

Jane rushed to Lilly's side.

"Move." Jane said to Lilly

Lilly moved a bit and Jane took over.

Jane set a brutal pace compared to Lilly, which Clementine assumed was the right thing to do. After all, Jane was the main doctor of the group.

"Is he breathing?!" Shepard asked

"NO! No I don't think so!"

"Keep checking."

Clementine watched. There was nothing else that she could actually do.

Clementine saw Kenny move out of her line of sight … then back … holding a salt lick.

She assumed he was getting ready just in case he was right.

"Are you stupid!? He's gonna turn! You're putting all of us at risk! You're fucking worthless, Shepard!"

Clementine noticed that Larry's eyes opened … and they were there normal color.

He wasn't a walker.

Kenny threw the salt lick right on top of Larry's head.

It basically exploded.

Clementine couldn't speak.

"NOOOOOOO!" Lilly screamed

"Kenny?! WHAT THE FUCK!?" Jane screamed

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I just- It had to be done!" Kenny said

"You don't know that!" Jane yelled

"Yes I do, Shepard. And so do you! I was counting on you."

Clementine couldn't take it anymore, she turned and started to cry.

She could tell that someone was yelling at someone but she couldn't make it out.

Clementine felt a hand on her shoulder. Clementine looked to see Jane crouched down.

Jane didn't say anything, just wrapped her arms around her.

Clementine grabbed hold of her.

"Are you ok?" Jane eventually asked

"Is it over?"

"Yeah. For now."

Clementine started to sob again.

Jane just held her, even rocked her just a little.

"I know, I know. You have to be strong right now, though. I need you to be strong. Think about something else. Something hopeful." Jane whispered

"Like what?"

"Your walkie-talkie." Jane whispered

"We're gonna get out, right? You found a way out?"

"Not yet, but I will."

Jane went back to look for an exit.

Clementine sat still, trying to be strong for Jane.

It was all she could to keep herself together at this point.

Clementine looked up to see that Jane was looking at the air-conditioner.

"Does the air-conditioner come off?" She asked

"If I had something to remove the screws." Jane replied

Jane seemed to have a moment of clarity. She crouched down next to Lilly and they exchanged some words.

Jane then searched Larry's body.

She pulled out a ring and gave it Lilly. The other pocket had some coins … which she quickly used undo the screws.

Jane lifted the air-conditioner down.

Jane looked back towards Clementine.

Clementine knew she was the only person who would fit through.

"You don't have to do this?" Jane said

Kenny shot her a nasty look.

"Clementine, we need you!" Kenny said

Jane in turn shot a nasty look at Kenny.

"I'm scared." Clementine replied

"It's ok to be scared." Jane replied

"Ok"

Jane lifted her up and she crawled in.

"You're going to be fine." Jane said

"What do I do when I get out?"

"See if you can get to the other side of that door and open it." Jane said

Clementine started to crawl forward.

She was terrified, but nothing bad had happened yet.

She noticed Danny from the vents and gasped.

She slowly crawled down an open hole and back into the main area of the barn. She carefully made it back to the meat locker where she opened the door.

Jane seemed to let go of a breath that she had been holding.

"Did anyone see you?" Jane asked

"No. But Danny is outside." Clementine whispered

Kenny moved past her.

"Where are you going?" Shepard asked

"What do you care?" Kenny replied

Jane didn't respond but Clementine knew she was angry based on her facial expression.

Jane turned back to Lilly.

"Lilly, we need to go. I'm sorry."

"I know, I just need a moment to say goodbye." Lilly said, her voice unsteady

Jane nodded and turned back to Clementine.

"Stay here and take care of Lilly."

When Jane left Clementine stood next to Lilly.

"I'm sorry." Clementine whispered

"T-Thank you."

A gunshot rang out.

_NO!_

Lilly bolted out of the room. Clementine followed her.

Clementine waited inside the blood covered room.

She watched as Jane got knocked down.

Lilly ran over to Danny and stabbed him twice.

Danny stepped into something, it looked like it hurt.

Kenny emerged from a feeding stall.

Jane gave him a bitter look.

"NOOOOO!"

That was Katjaa's voice.

Kenny ran off.

Jane picked up a pitch fork that was next to Danny.

"Eerrgghhh! You see?! You understand now, don't you?! You can have me! It's how the world works now! Give part of yourself … so others can live!" Danny said

"I should fucking kill you right now." Lilly seethed

"Mark never volunteered to be food!" Jane yelled

"You gotta keep me alive. If you kill me, the meat gets tainted! You can't eat it!"

"You already tainted." Shepard replied

"You ain't going to kill me, just like you didn't kill Jolene."

He was right, there was no way Jane would kill him. She just didn't do that.

Or at least that was what she thought.

Jane was standing still, not doing anything to suggest what she was about to do.

Suddenly Jane trust with her pitch-fork … straight into Danny's chest.

"NOOOO!" Clementine yelled

She subconsciously stepped behind Lilly's legs just a bit.

Jane turned back towards Lilly.

"Go, I'll cover you." Lilly said

"Just stay here and keep Clementine safe." Jane responded before leaving the barn.

Clementine was speechless, she had never seen Jane kill someone before. Hurt yes, but not kill.

"Why … why did she do that?" Clementine asked Lilly

Lilly looked towards Danny's body.

"He deserved it." Lilly coldly replied

Clementine didn't believe that. There had to be a reason, a REAL reason that Jane just killed him.

Danny's corpse started to move.

Lilly pulled out the pitch-fork.

Clementine looked away but she still heard the crack as Lilly drove in the pitch-fork repeatedly.

Clementine squeezed her eyes closed a little tighter after hearing each crack.

"It's done." Lilly said

Clementine didn't look at Danny, she didn't want to see that.

She had seen enough tonight.

She knew she wouldn't be the same ever again.

A gunshot rang out.

Clementine started to run towards the door when Lilly grabbed her arm.

"We need to help her!" Clementine pleaded, trying to get out of Lilly's grasp.

"Then stay behind me!" Lilly whispered

A second gunshot rang out.

Lilly opened the barn door.

Clementine was wrong.

Jane didn't need their help.

Jane threw Andy down the side of a small hill.

He rolled straight through the white fence. Jane slid down the hill after him.

Andy stood back up and tried to hit Jane.

Jane grabbed his arm and bent it in a way that no arm should bend.

Clementine winced and Andy started screaming.

Jane threw him to the floor and did the same to his other arm.

Clementine heard a wet crack.

Jane began to repeatedly punch Andy in the face.

Clementine and Lilly walked over by the group, who had gathered near the gate.

Clementine had completely forgotten that Doug hadn't been at dinner. She was surprised to see Carley and Ben here too.

Carley started to walk towards Jane after it appeared that Jane wasn't going to stop.

"Shepard! He's had enough!" Carley yelled

Jane stopped.

She got up and started to walk back towards the group.

Clementine could have sworn that her eyes looked like they were glowing red.

Clementine stared at them, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Is that all ya got, Shepard? You ain't shit!" Andy yelled

Jane turned back towards Andy.

"IT'S OVER!" Jane screamed

"Fuck you! As soon as Dan and Mama get out here you're all fucked!" Andy replied as he stood up, his arms hanging by his side at strange angles.

"They're both dead." Jane replied, her voice even. No hint of rage behind it.

Clementine gasped.

_She killed Brenda too?!_

Andy looked just as horrified.

"What did you do? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" He yelled, desperate for answers.

Jane turned around and started back towards the group.

"Don't you DARE walk away from me, Shepard!" Andy yelled

Jane kept going.

"Get back here and finish this!" Andy continued

_Please … don't._

Jane froze.

_No!_

Jane slowly turned back to Andy.

Clementine made to go over to Jane and stop her.

Lilly grabbed her arm.

Clementine tried to pull herself free. When she did she noticed it was too late.

Jane kicked him right into the fence.

Clementine closed her eyes and covered her ears.

She could still hear his screams.

It felt like it lasted for years.

Finally it stopped, and she opened her eyes.

Andy was dead, his body smoking on the ground. Jane was just standing over him with a neutral expression.

Clementine noticed that the walkers were coming in through the fence … but she couldn't find the will to speak.

Jane walked past them all, opening the gate.

"Let's go." Jane said

They all followed. Everyone looked horrified with what just happened.

No one said anything, though.

The walk back was miserable. No one was talking, leaving Clementine alone with her thoughts. None of them were pleasant.

Clementine ran into something.

She looked up to see Jane looking down at her.

"Come on Clem, stay close."

"Did you have to kill all those people?"

Jane crouched down.

Jane sighed.

"No. I didn't. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry that I did, sweetie. I just lost my temper and I let it get the best of me."

"Why?"

Jane paused to think about it.

"I was scared, Clem."

"Of what?"

"Those people."

"You didn't look scared."

Clementine thought Jane was furious, not scared.

"I was terrified to be honest. I was terrified about what they could have done to you if they had the chance. They mentioned that they were going to kill you … so I killed them before they could hurt you."

"Oh"

"I'm sorry I did that in front of you, I wish I hadn't. Please know that what I did was NOT the right thing to do."

Clementine nodded.

Clementine was glad Jane talked to her. It showed that Jane was always willing to tell her the truth.

Clementine was glad that not everyone just lied to her just because she was a little girl, in an effort to 'protect' her.

"Hey dad, what's that noise?" Duck asked

Everyone was silent.

Clementine heard a quiet beeping noise.

"Sounds like a car." Kenny answered

"Oh, God … not more strangers." Ben said

Jane took the lead, as she pretty much always did.

Clementine stayed back with Carley, a good distance away.

"Don't shoot, we're here to help!" Jane yelled

Clementine was just waiting for something to go wrong.

Nothing happened and the rest of the group approached the car, herself included.

"Oh crap. Baby, you've got to see this. There is a shit load of food and supplies back here!" Kenny said

"This food could save all of us." Katjaa said as soon as she took a look.

"Not ALL of us." Lilly said softly

Kenny sighed loudly.

Clementine chased away the memories about Larry.

"Look, we don't know if these people are dead." Ben stated

"If they come back, then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives." Lilly said

They were right.

"This stuff isn't ours." Clementine said

"Dad, whose car is it?" Duck asked

"Don't worry about that Duck, it's ours now." Kenny said

"It's abandoned, Ducky. Don't worry." Katjaa said, agreeing with her husband.

_You don't know that!_

"What if it's not?" Clementine asked

Everyone turned towards her.

"What if it's not abandoned? What if it IS someone's?" Clementine continued

Jane crouched down in front of her.

And just like that Clementine knew she had lost.

"We have to take this stuff, Clementine. We need it to survive."

Clementine turned away from Jane.

She felt betrayed.

Kenny grunted.

Jane sighed and stood back up.

She unlocked the car and gave everyone something to carry.

Everyone stood in a line and grabbed something from the car.

Clementine stood alone as everyone else grabbed supplies and walked, not even giving a backwards glance. Not even thinking about whose lives they might have just ruined.

"Clem"

Clementine looked up to see Jane holding a pink hoodie.

"This looks about your size. Why don't you hold onto this, it might get cold." Jane said

"It's not mine." Clementine replied

"Well, think of it like you're holding onto it. You can give it back if we ever meet up with them. Ok?" Shepard said

Clementine shivered.

It was getting cold.

"Ok" Clementine muttered

Clementine folded her arms across her chest and looked away from Jane.

Doug came over.

"Hey Jane, I fixed that camcorder you found. I think … I think you need to see this." Doug said

Carley walked over to her.

"I found some batteries, for your walkie-talkie."

Clementine reluctantly took them.

"Oh shit." Jane muttered

Clementine looked over to see Jane staring at the camcorder.

Clementine could hear someone's voice, but she didn't recognize it.

Jane looked back towards Clementine, fear written all over her face.

Clementine would normally ask what was wrong … but she was mad at Jane … and everyone else.

Clementine wasn't stupid enough to think that she would stay mad at her forever … or even that long to be honest.

Clementine looked up to see that Jane had her hand held out for her to take.

Clementine walked past her.

She wouldn't give in that quickly.

She heard Jane sigh behind her.

* * *

Clementine crawled into bed. It had been a long day and she was tired.

She was tired of people dying, of everyone fighting, of being ignored, but most of all she was just tired of disappointment.

Clementine rested her head on Jane's belly.

It was as hard as a rock.

Clementine never really liked soft pillows anyway.

"You alright?" Jane asked

Clementine was trying to give her the silent treatment … but it was hard to do.

Shepard sighed.

"I know you're still mad at me for … well everything that I did today. I'm sorry. I just want you to know that while I do things that you don't agree with sometimes I do it because I want whats best for YOU. Not for me, or Kenny, or Lilly, Or Carley, or Doug, or anyone else. I do it because I believe that it will keep you safe. I do it because I care about you. I hope you can at least understand that's my intent."

Clementine gave up on the silent treatment. It was unbearable. Probably more for her than it was for Jane.

"I know. Thank you, though … for keeping me safe."

"Always."

Clementine liked the sound of that.

It didn't take long for her to nod off.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's the shortest one to date but not by too much.**

**I apologize for any grammar and spelling mistakes that i didn't catch.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. The only regret that I have is that I couldn't find a way to incorporate the 'Urban' joke. Too bad.**

**It's interesting to see that Jane is actually starting to get unhinged, her temper starting to get the better of her. Another thing to note is that Shepard is incredibly intelligent, she was able to put the pieces together pretty fast, faster than Lee was for sure.**

**Some of you might have recognized the dialogue between Anderson and Shepard and I'm sure some of you didn't. That dialogue was cut dialogue that would have played right before Anderson died. You can easily find YouTube videos that have the fully voiced dialogue for both the male and femshep, just type in cut Anderson dialogue ME3 and you should find it. If you listen to it you can guess why I decided to throw it in, they're some great lines.**

**While we are on the topic I will adjust a few things in the Mass Effect universe. Don't worry, its very small little details that will eventually be talked about, really nothing that earth shattering, just things that I would have loved to have seen. Very minor things, so don't worry about major AU changes.**

**As always I look forward to reading through your reviews and .**

**Thank you for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone. I'm so sorry that this took as long as it did to update. I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter of Second Chances.**

Second Chances

Chapter 6: A New Enemy

* * *

**Clementine's POV**

Clementine was currently outside collecting leafs that had blown inside the Motel. She liked making leaf rubbings and she was always looking for new types of leafs. However, there was only so many types of leafs around the Motel and then she could only get those that had blown INSIDE the walls.

Jane sat on top of the RV, keeping watch.

Normally Lilly would watch during this time but Jane had taken her place.

Considering that it was three days since they met the St. Johns it wasn't that surprising. Lilly had barley come out of her room for the last three days.

Almost no one was told what happened inside the meat locker. All everyone else knew was that Larry had died ... and that it was Kenny's fault.

Clementine sighed as she finished anther leaf rubbing.

Clementine was bored.

So to rectify that she decided to go exploring, again.

Clementine always liked how she could find something new every time she looked. It made the Motel much more checked around the back, as very few people went there that often. Always interesting things to be found there.

Clementine crawled around, finding very little this time.

Clementine sighed.

She was about to leave when she saw movement.

There was a medium sized bug crawling near her.

Most little children would panic at the sight of a cockroach, but Clementine had learned that bugs weren't scary. At least not compared to walkers.

That didn't mean she would touch it. It was still gross, just not scary.

Clementine got a great idea, and she grinned mischievously as it took shape.

Clementine looked around and found a small container.

It took some work but she eventually managed to get the cockroach inside.

Clementine walked back out into the main area, sure to make sure that no one saw her as she walked to Duck's room. Before she went in she was sure that Duck, Kenny, and Katjaa were all outside … which they were.

Clementine quickly stepped inside.

Clementine opened the box and laid the cockroach on Duck's pillow and quickly left the room.

* * *

Clementine slowly stretched.

She hated the mornings, she always felt so sleepy. She hated it even more when she realized that she was alone. Clementine knew exactly where Jane was and what she was doing.

Clementine was about to leave the room when she shivered. It was starting to get cold.

Clementine looked back at the little dresser that was hers. She knew that it had something to keep her warm. A Brooklyn hoodie.

She hadn't worn it yet … but she would be lying if she said that she didn't want to.

Clementine sighed in defeat.

As Jane had predicted the hoodie was her size. Clementine had to admit that the hoodie was comfy … and warm.

She walked outside to see that Jane was exactly where she thought she was.

Jane was on top of the RV on lookout.

Jane turned to look at her when she stepped out of their room and gave her a weak smile at the sight of Clementine wearing the hoodie.

Clementine wandered about, looking for something to do.

Duck was sitting alone in the corner filling in his coloring book.

Clementine decided to go join him.

When she sat down Duck gave her a look that was odd for Duck.

It wasn't a happy one.

"What's wrong Duck?" Clementine asked

"You put a bug on my pillow. That wasn't nice." Duck replied

"Don't be such a cry-baby, it was just a bug. There are worse things out there than bugs." Clementine replied

Normally Clementine wouldn't have replied in such a harsh manner but she felt Duck needed to grow up, at least a little.

Duck looked outside the walls and sighed "Yeah."

Clementine smiled at the fact that she got through to him, Duck almost never saw the world as it was … and to be honest neither did she for a long time. That had changed … ever since the meat locker.

Clementine felt that she had done Duck a favor.

Clementine picked up a piece of blank paper and started to draw.

* * *

"Lunch time!" Katjaa called

Clementine looked up to see Katjaa starting to lay lunch on the table.

The table itself was the best part of the Motel if you asked Clementine. It was just like the tables used for large family gatherings. It was big enough to have all of them seated down, like the big family they were now. However, the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that the only place in the Motel that could fit it was the outside lot.

The only reason that they even had it was that Jane had argued that having something like this would help them all bond together … which it did, at least a little.

Clementine gazed up at Jane, who was still on lookout.

"Shepard, did you hear?" Carley asked

"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

Clementine was hesitant to start eating the bits of meat that were on the plate, the experience with the St. Johns lingering on her mind.

Clementine wasn't the only one.

The only people who didn't have this issue were Carley, Doug, Ben, and David since none of them were there.

Today was some apples and oranges with a small side of jerky.

Clementine had to force herself to eat the jerky.

This was one of three times a day that she would see Lilly. Lilly was a mess, her hair disheveled, and the bags under her eyes were dark.

Lilly sat near her, as Lilly new that Jane would be sitting next to her.

Before the meat locker Clementine had noticed that Jane and Lilly never really got along, now Jane was one of the few people Lilly was willing to talk to. She just shut out about everyone else.

Clementine hoped she would be ok.

Everyone gave Lilly some space, though some had different reasons.

Kenny stayed away because Jane told him NOT to go anywhere near her. Kenny had agreed though he still maintained that he did the right thing for everyone. Clementine could tell that Jane didn't believe that.

Jane was busy eating when she suddenly froze.

"Jane?" Clementine asked

Jane turned around and looked out over by the wall, offering no explanation.

"OH SHIT!" Jane screamed as she tackled Clementine

Clementine heard three wet snaps.

"FUCK!" Jane yelled out

Clementine saw the end of an arrow sticking out of her back.

_NO!_

Around her gunshots started to go off as the rest of the group reacted.

More arrows started landing around all of them.

Jane looked furious.

Her eyes were red again, and Clementine now got a much better look at them being this close.

The center of her eyes had a deep red glow, each one surrounded by three smaller orbs around the center one.

It was unlike anything that Clementine had seen before.

Jane snarled.

Jane stood quickly and fire three time into the forest.

Three distinct screams could be heard from that direction.

Clementine saw the THREE arrows that were sticking out of her back. Clementine watched in horror as Jane vaulted over the barricade and ran straight into the forest.

"SHEPARD! What the fuck are you doing?!" Carley yelled

Jane disappeared.

Clementine rushed towards the wall.

Someone grabbed her from behind. It was Lilly.

Clementine struggled to get free, but as always she was too little to fight back.

"DOUG! Watch after Clementine! Carley, let's go!" Lily yelled

"WHAT! That's suicide! There are walkers and bandits out there! We need to stay here, Shepard is on her own." Kenny retorted

Clementine could feel herself starting to get angry.

"Fuck you, Kenny! Not everyone can't write off our own people in an instant." Lilly responded, her tone filled with barley contained fury.

Kenny opened his mouth to speak.

Several gunshots started to ring out, and then suddenly stopped … after a large explosion sounded off.

Clementine's heart started to race even faster.

Everyone was silent as they considered what they needed to do.

That 'something' turned out to be absolutely nothing.

Jane emerged from the forest dragging a struggling bandit by his left leg.

Carley opened the gate.

Jane was covered in blood, though if Clementine had to guess most of it was not hers. Jane dropped the struggling man, and then gave him a sharp kick to the head.

He stopped struggling, though he was still breathing.

Jane had only knocked him out.

"Katjaa … I need some help here." Jane said

Katjaa moved forward.

Jane pulled out a knife and cut off most of her shirt, as it was stuck to her … or more accurately it was stuck to the arrows that were stuck in her.

"Let's go to a room." Katjaa said

"It's fine … let's get this over with." Jane muttered

Jane finished cutting off the rest of the shirt.

Clementine watched the facial expressions in the group change from concern to just pure shock.

Clementine did not blame them.

Jane was COVERED in scars.

Clementine had a scar on her knee, something that she had gotten during soccer practice so she knew what they looked like. Usually little lines that were colored a little differently than her skin.

Jane must have had dozens on her body … and all they could see was just part of her chest.

There were several that were most like blobs rather than lines … and they were all a lot bigger than Clementine's little scar.

Another thing of note was Jane's muscles. Clementine had never seen so much muscle on a girl before. She had known that Jane was strong, which is the only reason she wasn't that surprised.

"Damn" Carley said

It wasn't clear if Carley was referring to the scars, the muscles, or both.

Jane sighed.

"I have been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, burned … and a lot of other unpleasant things." Jane muttered

Clementine believed her … sadly.

"This might hurt." Katjaa warned

Jane gripped the side of the truck she was sitting in.

Katjaa pulled out one of the arrows.

Jane didn't say anything. For a moment Clementine thought that it didn't actually hurt.

Until she saw Jane crush the part of the rail she was holding with her bare hand.

This happened two more times as Katjaa pulled out the other arrows and stared to treat the wounds.

Clementine winced every time that an arrow came out. It had to have hurt, no matter how tough Jane looked through the whole thing.

Carley went to get Jane a shirt as Katjaa applied the bandage and she came back just as Katjaa finished.

Jane slipped on the new shirt.

Jane rolled her shoulders and winced.

"Now to tend to our new 'guest'." Jane said

He was still unconscious.

"We have anything to bind his hands?" Jane asked

"Yeah." Doug muttered as he went off to grab something.

He came back with some rope.

"This stuff is heavy duty, it should work."

Jane bound the guy's hands.

"Someone tell me when this guy wakes up. I need a nap." Jane muttered

Lilly nodded and sat in a chair that faced their prisoner.

Carley went up to take over watch duty.

Clementine raced after Jane.

When Jane laid down Clementine curled herself around the woman.

"Jane. Are you ok?" Clementine asked

"I've been worse, but thank you for asking." Jane chuckled

Clementine grabbed onto her tightly.

"How did you know?" Clementine asked

"Always the perceptive one. I heard something and then I saw one move between the trees."

"Oh"

Jane soon fell asleep. No matter how tough Jane was Clementine knew that she was only human … she wasn't invincible.

She really wished Jane was.

* * *

A few hours later their 'guest' had woken up.

He had started to scream at Jane's presence. When he tried to crawl away Jane pulled him back.

The man was scared to death of her and Clementine wondered why.

Jane slugged him hard across the jaw.

"Mind telling me what you people from the Save-Lots were thinking?" Jane sneered

The man opened his mouth to answer … but no words came out.

Jane hit him across the jaw again.

Blood droplets landed on the ground below the man.

"TALK!" Jane yelled

He looked up at everyone other than Jane. He looked terrified.

"Do you even know what she can do?!"

Clementine wasn't expecting that.

Shepard clenched her fist.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Kenny asked

Everyone else threw questioning glances at Jane.

Clementine frowned at how easily they were turned against Jane, even in such a small degree.

"Why the Hell are you here!?" Jane snapped

"Our leader … we wanted to offer a … trade. Medicine for … 'protection'. We were sent to ... motivate you to accept." The man said, hesitantly

Jane growled.

The man whimpered just slightly.

He looked back at the others.

"PLEASE! Do anything that you want to me, just don't leave me with HER!"

The fear from this man was so intense … what was he afraid Jane would do?

The others seem to ponder this as well.

Jane grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"What? You expect mercy after you tried to kill HER!" Jane yelled while at the same time pointing at her.

The man struggled to speak.

He wheezed as Jane squeezed.

"Jane" Clementine whispered

Jane didn't let up.

"Jane!" Clementine yelled

Jane still didn't hear her.

Clementine grabbed her shirt and tugged.

Jane looked down at her.

Jane dropped him.

He started coughing as he tried to breathe again.

"Get out." Jane whispered

He didn't move.

"GET OUT!" Jane screamed

Everyone jumped at least a little.

The man, still wheezing ran over to the gate. Carley opened it and he stumbled out. They watched him disappear into the forest.

"What the Hell did you do that for?" Kenny said

"As a warning." Jane said cryptically

No one asked for clarification … no one wanted to know.

Clementine had gotten an idea of what happened, though.

Jane's … powers.

Clementine smiled up at Jane when she looked at her.

Jane gave her a weak smile in return.

"Everyone, we need to prepare. Despite what that man is going to tell his comrades where ever they are I can GURANTEE they will not believe him. Those bandits will be back, and soon. We need to get ready. Work on the wall is now priority number one."

Everyone nodded.

"Carley, we're going downtown to see if they is anything that we might be able to get with the truck later. Let's go."

"Right behind you." Carley said

"Please be careful." Clementine whispered

Jane nodded and proceeded out.

* * *

Clementine watched as everyone worked on the wall. Ever since the attempted raid two days ago almost everyone worked on the walls at all times.

It was boring, but there was nothing else to do really. Not unless she wanted to play with Duck.

She wasn't feeling up to dealing with Duck at the moment.

"CLEMENTINE!" Duck yelled

Clementine sighed, it looked like she wasn't going to get a choice in the matter.

"Yeah?"

Duck started to start going off about something that he found in the back.

Clementine looked over the wall.

Something moved.

Duck continued to speak as Clementine focused on the forest outside the wall.

Clementine saw a bow peak out of the tree line.

"WATCH OUT!" Clementine yelled

Clementine tackled Duck to the floor.

It was a good thing that she did too, several arrows landed where Duck had been.

Everyone took cover as a volley of arrows and bullets flew from the forest.

Clementine hid behind the RV, with Duck following her.

A fire fight broke out between the bandits and her group.

Clementine covered her ears against the roar of gunfire, but she could only do so much.

Clementine looked around the edge of the RV.

The Motel had instantly transformed from a safe refuge to a war zone.

Duck was whimpering next to her.

Most of the adults were pinned down near the gate. Ben had been on watch, but he had rapidly climbed down, and cowering in a nearby corner.

Clementine wasn't surprised.

Jane quickly shot over the wall, and Clementine watched a bandit's head explode.

No one in the group was nearly as good of a shot compared to Jane.

Carley took a peek over the wall for an arrow to go right over her head.

"Shit!" Carley yelled

Clementine took cover for a moment and went back towards the other end of the RV.

Thankfully the bandits were not able to get that close to the walls, her warning giving the group enough time to bunker down.

It was a stalemate at this point.

Clementine watched a bandit throw a small spherical object towards Jane.

Jane saw it mid-air.

"GRENADE!" She yelled as she tackled Kenny to the floor.

The object exploded.

Clementine ducked back down behind the RV. She was breathing hard, despite how much she fought to stay calm she was only a little girl. She wasn't ready for any of this.

Duck was even less ready, despite his older age.

Clementine heard yelling, though she couldn't hear what was being said as the gunfire was too loud.

Eventually the gunfire ceased.

Clementine poked her head around the RV.

Everyone was picking themselves up. It didn't look like anyone was hurt.

"CLEMENTINE" Jane yelled frantically.

"I'm here." Clementine said as she walked around the RV.

Jane sighed in relief.

"Duck!?" Kenny yelled

"Is it over?" Duck asked, from around the RV.

"Yeah, it is." Kenny replied

"It appears that we are going to have to a lot more careful from now on. Lilly, go keep watch. They might want to double back, catch us off guard by attacking again so soon." Jane stated

Lilly nodded and headed back up the RV.

"Great. Bandits are fuckin' us, will we ever get a fucking break." Kenny muttered

"We knew that they'd be back." Jane replied

"Yeah, that warning that you mentioned sure gave us a lot of time." Kenny said sarcastically

Jane frowned.

"Well at least no one got hurt." Carley said, trying to remove the tension that was slowly building.

"Thanks to Clem." Doug said

Clem shrugged.

Jane crouched down.

"Not bad at all. Thanks for the warning, you probably saved lives today." Jane said

Clementine beamed at the compliment.

Jane chuckled and gave her hair a playful ruffle.

* * *

Clementine watched the outside of the Motel from her room.

Clementine frowned.

As a 'reward' for warning the group Jane had basically locked her in the room.

"_I just want you to be safe."_

Clementine huffed.

The door opened. Jane walked in.

Clementine frowned at her.

"It's for the best, sweetie."

"Am I just going to stay in here forever?"

Jane sighed.

"No, I know that would never work. You're too stubborn for that." Jane said, with a smile.

Clementine smiled.

Then she frowned again.

Jane chuckled.

"Don't worry, Clem. Just indulge me for the rest of the night."

It was the least that she could do for her.

"Ok." Clementine mumbled.

"Thank you, sweetie."

Jane laid down on the bed, inventing Clem over with the tap of her hand against the bed.

As usual Clementine immediately answered.

Clem curled around Jane.

"Are you alright?" Clementine asked

Jane looked down at her in surprise.

"I thought I'd be asking you that."

Clementine shrugged.

"Duck told me how you saved him." Jane said

Clementine didn't reply, what was there to say?

"Clementine … we need to talk."

Clementine sat up.

"Oh no, what happened." Clementine said

"Nothing bad. After today … I realized that you need to be prepared. I've been thinking about it since the St. Johns to be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"Clementine … I got shot THREE times today. I can't promise that I can always be here for you. I need you to be able to protect yourself." Jane said

Clementine hugged Jane tightly.

"Don't say that. Nothing is going to happen to you."

Jane chuckled sadly.

"I'm not going anywhere … not without one Hell of a fight. But I've had … bad luck before. I need to know that you can take care of yourself."

Clementine nodded, only because she wanted Jane to move on from this topic.

"So … what am I going to do?" Clementine asked

"YOU are going to learn how to shoot, and I'm going to teach you."

Clementine smiled.

She would be lying if she said if she had never tried to figure out how to ask Jane about that very thing. She wasn't stupid enough to believe that she wouldn't learn eventually. Her logic, or at least the logic she was planning on using was why wait.

"We have to talk about your hair. It's not safe."

Clementine frowned.

"That's not nice!"

Jane looked really confused.

"What?"

"Are you saying it smells?"

"No."

"Cause it does, kinda."

Jane shook her head.

"Remember at the dairy, when Andy grabbed it?"

"Yeah."

"I could happen again, and if it's a walker … We need to make sure that it can't get grabbed." Jane explained.

_Oh_

"Just a trim, right?"

Jane shrugged, a guilty smile on her face as she pulled out some scissors out of the dresser.

Jane HAD been thinking about all of this beforehand.

Clementine cringed.

Clementine turned around and took off her hat. Jane started to cut.

"You know what you're doing, right?" Clementine asked

"Yeah. Of course."

"I don't believe you."

"That's good. You need to know when people are lying to you."

"I'm going to look like a boy."

"But think about how safe you'll be."

"I rather be dead."

Jane stopped cutting and lightly gripped her shoulders.

"Don't say that."

Clementine mumbled an apology.

Jane continued cutting.

Clementine tried not to imagine what her hair looked like.

"I think I'm done, just need to tie these pieces back with something."

"I have hair bands in my backpack, front pocket."

Jane went up and grabbed them.

"Where did you get these?"

"Lily gave them to me for sleeping."

"Why haven't you used them?"

"I forgot about them."

Jane put on the ties.

"There you go. Nice and safe."

Clementine felt around her head.

She slumped.

"Does it look dumb?"

"No … I think it looks kinda cute."

Clementine hoped she was right.

"So … can you teach me now?"

Jane chuckled.

"Someone is eager. We'll do it tomorrow, it's getting dark outside."

Clementine turned back to the window.

It was getting dark, and she was surprised that she hadn't noticed already.

"Oh" Clementine replied, disappointment thick in her voice.

Jane chuckled.

"Sooner you go to sleep the sooner you wake up." Jane said

Clementine basically flew into bed.

* * *

**Shepard's POV**

Shepard slowly opened her eyes.

Clementine was sitting in the chair on the other side of the room.

She was twitching in anticipation.

Shepard smirked.

"You sure you're ready?"

"I think so." Clementine replied

Shepard nodded.

Despite her bravado Clementine was still a little nervous.

Shepard didn't blame her.

Shepard sighed.

It finally hit her that she was about to teach an eight-year old how to kill.

Even the war didn't require children to fight. The biotics from the Ascension Project didn't quite count.

Shepard got dressed and followed Clementine out of the door.

Shepard led Clementine towards the back, where there was a long hallway in-between the buildings where she set up a little target practice lane with some empty wine bottles.

It was their shooting gallery.

Shepard crouched down.

"Don't be afraid of it. It's just a tool, and a particularly useful one at that." Shepard explained as she passed the weapon to Clem.

Clementine nodded and accepted the weapon.

Shepard put the holster on Clementine.

"Shepard. What are you doing?"

Shepard turned back to see Katjaa looking at her.

"I'm teaching Clementine how to shoot."

Katjaa's jaw slacked open.

"What! Why?"

"Clementine needs to learn. I got shot three times and I'll be damned if I leave her here without knowing how to take care of herself."

The rest of the group started to gather around.

"She's just a little girl, Shepard!" Katjaa replied

"THEN SHE'LL DIE ONE!" Shepard screamed

Everyone, herself included, was surprised by this outburst.

"The walkers don't care! The bandits don't care! NO ONE FUCKING CARES! If we keep treating them like children then they will end up dying. I REFUSE TO LET THAT HAPPEN!" Shepard continued

"They're just kids! They could hurt themselves or the rest of us. We need to wait until they get older!"

"No, they're not. They are survivors, just like us. Age means nothing now, death doesn't just wait just because she is small."

Katjaa turned towards Clementine.

"Clementine, sweetie, give me the gun. It's just too dangerous, and I don't want you getting used to this."

Katjaa held out her hand.

Shepard stepped aside.

Clementine had to make this choice on her own.

Clementine looked down at her weapon. Clementine holstered it and smiled up at Shepard.

Shepard nodded.

Katjaa did not look happy.

"Since that is settled would you mind giving us some space here?" Shepard said

Everyone dispersed.

Shepard knelt down to Clementine's level.

"Thank you for trusting me." Clementine said

Shepard smiled.

"Ready?"

Clementine nodded.

"Use the little notch to aim."

Clementine aimed her pistol at the bottle.

Shepard bent Clementine's elbows and covered her ears.

"A little higher and a little to the left."

Clementine shot and missed.

She missed two more times.

"My hands hurt … can we stop now?"

"You'll get used to it. Let's keep going, alright."

Clementine sighed.

Shepard bent Clementine's elbows again.

"A little higher. And a little to the right."

Clementine shot … and hit.

"I got it!"

"Good job, let's practice some more."

And they continued on like this.

Eventually Clementine shot … and hit, without Shepard having to make any suggestions.

"I did it!"

"Great job. You're my little crack shot now."

Clementine beamed. Then frowned.

"They're not walkers though."

Shepard was glad that Clementine realized that she still had more to work on.

"No, they're not. We'll graduate you to walkers one day."

'My hands kinda hurt and there's this ringing in my ear, like EEEEEEEEE!"

"You'll get used to it."

"Can I try one more time?" Clementine asked

Shepard nodded and reset one more bottle.

Clementine aimed, and fired.

Click.

Clementine frowned at the gun in frustration.

Shepard chuckled.

"Here, let me show you."

It didn't take long for Clementine to learn how to reload.

Clementine loaded the gun and took aim.

She fired and hit the bottle on her first try.

Shepard squeezed Clementine's shoulders with pride.

"Nice shot, Clem."

The pair turned around to see Carley looking at them.

"Thanks." Clementine replied

"Clementine's quite the shot." Shepard stated

"No kidding. I have an idea." Carley replied

"What?"

Carley pulled out a camera.

"What about a picture of you and the big game hunter." Carley said

Shepard smiled.

Shepard crouched down and wrapped her arms around Clementine.

"Say cheese."

Carley took the picture.

Carley handed Shepard the picture as soon as it popped out.

"Thanks." Shepard replied

Shepard turned to Clementine and held out the picture for her to take.

Clementine shook her head.

Shepard was about to ask when Clementine answered.

"It's ok. I've got the real thing after all." Clementine said right before wrapping her arms around Shepard.

Clementine was always good for a smile.

* * *

Shepard grabbed her rifle and followed Kenny out the gate.

It was time for the daily supply run back to the drugstore.

Shepard absolutely despised them.

The shit they saw sometimes was just horrific.

* * *

_Shepard looked around for anything that could be of use._

_Today was one of the few days that they deviated from the drugstore. They were searching a hardware store that was nearby._

_Kenny was nearby, searching around the tool section._

_Shepard looked back towards him and sighed._

_After the meat locker their friendship had nearly collapsed. Only Shepard's protection of Duck had kept the possibility of it alive._

"_Find anything yet?" She asked_

"_No, you?"_

"_I found a pair of girls tennis shoes. They might fit Clementine."_

_Kenny nodded and went back to it._

_Shepard looked the shoes over. They were a little worn but that wasn't surprising. The same probably couldn't be said for the owners._

_Shepard shook her head to clear out those thoughts._

_She didn't want to go there._

_Shepard noticed a large shelf that had completely collapsed. It wasn't completely lying flat though, meaning that something was underneath it._

"_Hey, Kenny. There might be something under this book shelf. Can you help"_

_Kenny walked over._

_They heaved until it was back in its original place._

_Kenny gasped._

_Shepard looked down to see what had scared Kenny._

_There was a little girl._

_She was dead now, crushed by the shelf._

_Shepard couldn't speak._

_Thankfully the girls head had been crushed … if it hadn't._

_Shepard wasn't sure she would be able to put her down._

_Shepard looked down at the girls feet._

_She still had her shoes on._

_Shepard swore under her breath._

_The rest of the trip had been conducted in silence._

_It just happened to be the one time they never ran into walkers … and she wished that they had. Walkers would have made a good distraction._

_When they got back Shepard had kept Clementine in sight for the rest of the day, and had held on to her tight when they went to sleep._

* * *

Shepard sighed.

She continued to jog forward, Kenny following close behind.

Shepard stopped in front of the drugstore.

There were no walkers anywhere.

"Looks like this is our lucky day." Kenny muttered

"Maybe, they do tend to take us by surprise." Shepard replied

"Yeah, well, the less I see the happier I am." Kenny replied

Shepard started forward.

Shepard looked into the Tim's Tools & More store.

The girl's body was still there … most of it at least.

Something had taken a few bites of it.

Shepard turned away and started towards the truck next to the drugstore.

"Mmph, man." Kenny said, mainly to himself.

His gunshot wound was still sore.

_Story of my life._

"You made up your mind yet?" Kenny asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"About?"

"When it comes to getting' the Hell out of Macon. I bet you're in the 'let's stay put' camp, considering that I've been pushin' everyone to leave." Kenny said, just a hint of disdain in his voice.

"I don't know. You and Lilly both have EXCELLENT points. The Motel is a target for bandits now, but it has kept everything out so far. Besides where the Hell would we go. I think that we will need to leave … but I think we should have a plan before we do." Shepard replied

"The longer we wait the more likely something bad is gonna to happen."

"The less we plan the more likely something bad is going to happen." Shepard retorted

They made it to the truck.

"Ok, just like last time. Over the rig, into the pharmacy and scrape whatever together whatever supplies are left." Kenny stated

"We didn't leave much in there." Shepard remarked

"We're out of options. Somethin's better than nothing." Kenny replied

Kenny was right about that.

Shepard took lookout while Kenny climbed up the ladder.

She heard a crack.

"Shit!" Kenny whispered

"You ok?" Shepard asked

"The ladder's come loose. I'm not sure how many more trips she's got in her." Kenny replied

Shepard turned around to see that the ladder was indeed on its last legs.

"I'm not sure how many trips we've got in US." Shepard said

"No kidding." Kenny replied

Shepard touched the ladder.

It completely collapsed.

_Of course._

"Looks like she's done." Shepard sighed

"What now?"

"I'll figure something out."

"Better get a move-on." Kenny muttered

Shepard noticed that a nearby army car had a hook on it.

Shepard pulled on it until it started to unwind itself, then dragged the hook towards the truck.

"Lilly's not doin' so good, huh."

"She just needs time." Shepard said

Lilly had improved with in the last few days.

She actually came out of her room for more than to eat and go to the bathroom.

"If you say so. You're the only one she seems to give a damn about anymore. Well, you and Clem." Kenny stated

Shepard had noticed that too.

She attached the hook, and went back to the truck to turn on the winch.

The army car was dragged towards the truck.

"Your girl still upset with us for taking stuff out of that car last week?"

"Yeah … well with the rest of you. I apologized to her and she forgave me."

"Not surprising." Kenny replied

Shepard climbed onto the car.

"Duck was asking about that guy at Hershel's farm last night."

"Really? I wasn't sure it phased him."

"Of course it did."

"It was a scary situation for him."

"I'm just worried he'll always think it was his fault. You made out of that a hero in his eyes." Kenny said

"It's never about that. It's about saving lives."

"I know."

Kenny reached down to her.

"You sure about this?" Shepard asked

"Shepard, I'm fine. I've got this. Gimme your hand." Kenny said

He sounded pretty confident.

Shepard jumped and grabbed it.

Kenny started to pull her up when the bullet wound must have flared.

Shepard found herself falling.

She slammed straight into the windshield. It cracked … loudly. Shepard waited for walkers to descend on them.

They never did.

"Nice one! Next time, I'm bringing Ben." Shepard said

"Sorry, you ever been shot?" Kenny asked defensively

"Yeah, actually. Remember the scars?"

Kenny muttered under his breath.

A loud scream rang out.

Shepard turned around.

A woman burst from one of the stores.

"NO! GO AWAY!" She screamed at the walkers following her.

She tripped.

"HELP ME!" She screamed

Shepard wasn't sure if she was yelling at them or … just at the sky. The woman just started screaming again and ran in circles.

"What the – what the Hell is that?! A walker?!" Kenny asked stupidly

"Walkers don't scream. It's a girl. We have to help her."

"How? We can't get to her!"

"We have to do something!"

Shepard looked down the scope, just in time to see the girl get bitten on the ankle.

"Fuck, we got to shoot her. Put her out of this misery."

Kenny shook his head and smiled.

"They don't know we're here."

"What?"

"We leave her alive and she draws them all to her, buying us time."

"Kenny …"

"Think about it! We're always worryin' about the ones we can't see – she stays alive and brings them all out of their holes!" Kenny stated

Shepard sighed.

She really wanted to help that girl but … but they needed the time.

Shepard lowered her weapon, though not without regret.

"Good, let's go. She'll keep them busy."

Kenny lifted her up and they ran inside the drugstore.

"We should be good to clear this place out, but we ain't got all day. Get everything you can out of these racks." Kenny said

"Don't forget underneath the counter this time!" Shepard yelled

"I'll clear down here and then we gotta go!" Kenny replied

Shepard reset one of the shelves and started grabbing everything that she could see.

The woman was screaming outside. It soon cut out.

"She's gone. There's not much time now." Kenny said

Shepard continued her search, grabbing everything that she could see.

Walkers started banging on the door.

"Fuck! Incoming! Come on, Shepard!" Kenny yelled

"Up and over." Kenny said to himself as he reached the counter.

Kenny vaulted over the counter.

Shepard followed him.

"We're still clear, let's hustle." Kenny said

As soon as he said that the door collapsed right on top of her.

"Kenny! HELP!"

Shepard slowly pushed the door up and rolled out of the way.

Kenny hadn't moved an inch.

"Fridge!" Kenny yelled

Shepard knocked over, killing a walker immediately.

"Out! Let's fucking get out!" Kenny said as he shot two walkers.

Shepard ran towards him, only to be confronted by a walker in an air-force uniform.

Shepard smacked it with her rifle but the helmet prevented her from killing it.

She shoved in back straight onto a set of rebar that was sticking out, impaling it instantly. It reached for her, but it was unable to reach.

Shepard ran to Kenny.

"What the fuck was that?" Shepard sneered

"They're everywhere; you took care of yourself, didn't you?" Kenny replied

Shepard frowned but followed him out through the hole in the wall.

* * *

The pair was silent on the trip back. They had nothing to say to each other after that little incident.

They made it back in about an hour.

Shepard gazed at the arrows sticking out of the wall.

_Fucking bandits._

She also noticed Ben was on watch from outside the compound.

When they got inside she noticed Clementine talking to her radio.

_Weird._

Clementine looked up and noticed her. Clementine soon ran over.

"You're back. Ben found some stickers in a drawer and I put 'em on my walker!" Clementine said, holding out her radio.

"Hey, sweetie. That's great! I need to go talk to Lilly. I'll come talk to you after i'm done." Shepard replied

Shepard knocked on Lilly's door.

Lilly walked out.

"Looks like we got the kid on watch again." Kenny commented

"What'd you get?" Lilly asked, straight to the point.

Shepard handed her the rifles.

"We might as well leave a sign out that says 'the men are gone, come rape our women and children.'" Kenny said

"Ha" Lilly humorlessly replied as she walked towards the back of the room.

"So what did you get?" Lilly asked again, a bit more hostile this time.

"What was left." Shepard answered

"Which was a lot, actually. Take a look." Kenny replied as he handed off the backpack.

Lilly opened it up on her bed.

"We're FINE by the way …" Kenny said

"Nice work. This'll keep us going. If we carry on like this, we'll get through the winter here." Lilly said

"The winter? We'll freeze our asses off here." Kenny objected

"Because piling into an RV with you, after what you did to my dad, is so appealing." Lilly remarked

"Why wouldn't it be? You know I'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe."

"We're already safe."

"Take a look at the wall, Lilly. That's not graffiti. Those are bullet holes. And we got enough arrow shafts sticking out of it to dry our laundry."

Shepard stepped in.

"We have to go eventually, Lilly." Shepard replied

There simply wasn't the supplies to sustain them here.

"I know, Shepard. I know. Eventually is different." Lilly replied

"At it again, are we?" Carley asked sarcastically

"Can it, Carley." Kenny said dismissively

"Don't boss people around." Lilly replied

"I'm sorry. Someone needs to make executive decisions for the group though, and I don't think you're capable anymore." Kenny said, in a non-hostile tone.

"Cut this crap out. Both of you. We're strongest together." Shepard started

She turned towards Kenny.

"I know you think I'm on her side but there are no sides, damn it." Shepard continued

"What about the food situation? What about protection? What about when this place falls? Somebody's gotta be thinking this shit." Kenny continued

"He has a point there Lilly. We do have to think about this stuff, and have plans to deal with them. Which is why we are ALL going to start to preparing for those possibilities." Shepard said

"How has this not been working? We have everything we need." Lilly asked

"Cause of me, Lilly."

"No, because Shepard knows how to take care of PEOPLE, not just things." Lilly retorted

"Kenny, I promise that we can deals with these issues, just give us a chance."

"And when fifteen bandits hop over that wall in the middle of the night? What then? You just going to deal with that."

"Everything that happens to us is another excuse for you to pull this crap about leaving. All I want is a week of peace; of not hearing it."

"Do you know how we got these supplies? Your pal and I got lucky and let a girl get eaten out there."

"What?" Katjaa asked, horrified

Shepard glared at Kenny.

"Some girl came screaming out of an alley. She had dead hanging all over her. She gave us enough time to get everything we could out of the drugstore."

"And you just let her suffer like, what, like bait? God what is happening …" Lilly started

"She was dead anyway, she already got bit before we could react. I … had to make a call. Maybe I made the right one … maybe not." Shepard said remorsefully

"We've been putting our lives on the line doing these runs into the city. You wouldn't believe the shit we see." Kenny said

"We all appreciate it, Ken." Katjaa said

"You should be thanking Shepard for not shooting that girl."

"It's not so EASY for her."

Shepard saw Carley frown at Lilly and then move off.

"Look, Macon and its people aren't savable. It's not a town. It's full of walkers and the people who WERE left are dying and wandering out onto the streets. It's Hell on earth and its coming, this way."

"IT'S NOT GOING TO BE EASIER OUT ON THE ROAD!" Lilly screamed

"How would you know?" Kenny asked condescendingly

"WHAT I KNOW? I know you're not above murder! I know someone has been STEALING our supplies, that's right STEALING, and I know the list of people I can trust here gets SMALLER EVERY DAY! Now everybody GET OUT!" Lilly yelled

Shepard ushered everyone out of the room.

"She'll be fine." Shepard stated in Lilly's defense

"She's riling everybody up, otherwise."

"You understand, Ken." Katjaa said, like a sheep

"All I know is whenever this shit happens I'm the fucking bad guy. I'd like a thank you for once. FOR ONCE." Kenny said

Kenny walked off and Katjaa soon followed him.

"Oof. Things are coming to a head." Carley said

"You could say that." Shepard replied

"Well I think you did good today, and I find myself thinking that most days."

"I'm glad someone does." Shepard sighed

"Almost everyone here does, actually. If you were here more often you would see that." Carley said with a shrug

"If I was here more then I wouldn't be doing a good job."

"Exactly." Carley replied with a smile.

"It's probably worth following up with Lilly about what she was saying about missing supplies. With her wound up the way she is, I don't want to see her paranoid." Carley continued

"No kidding."

Shepard sighed.

"You probably better get to it. Tell me what you find out." Carley said

Carley took off to the second floor of the Motel.

Shepard went straight to Clementine.

"Hey, Clementine."

"Hey, Jane."

"What are you working on?" Shepard asked

"It's called a leaf rubbing. My teacher Miss Moore showed us how to do 'em when we went to the Botanical Garden once." Clementine replied

Clementine picked up a leaf and her drawing.

"See? It's the same! Uhm, kind of."

"That's really something." Shepard replied

"I'll make one for you, too!" Clementine replied

"Thank you, sweetie. I'd love one."

Shepard looked back over the Motel.

She had to admit that Kenny had a point earlier. This place wasn't going to last much longer as much as she wanted to believe too.

They would need to leave ... sooner that they would probably want.

_But what does everyone else think?_

"Do you like it here?" Shepard asked

"I don't LIKE it here."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Where are we going?"

"Other than somewhere else ... I don't know."

"I don't know. Maybe if I knew where."

"Yeah, that would be a nice thing to know."

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm starting to believe that we might have to leave here. Between the lack of food and bandits attacking this place has run its course."

"Ooh, ok." Clementine said sadly

Shepard didn't blame her for that reaction.

"You like your haircut?" Shepard asked

Clementine frowned.

"I'm just worried everyone thinks it looks dumb." Clementine said

"No one thinks it looks dumb. I bet no one has even stared at it."

"Well, Duck did."

Shepard took a quick look around.

"Duck doesn't count."

Clementine giggled.

"I'll talk to you later, Clem."

"Ok."

Shepard went back to Lilly's room. Shepard opened the door.

Lilly was holding her head in her hands.

Lilly looked up.

"I'm sorry."

Shepard sat near her saying "You don't have to apologize."

"Did you come in here to give me Hell or to coddle me?"

"I do take requests."

Lilly chuckled.

Shepard's grin disappeared.

"I'm worrying about you."

"I know. I'm trying. I'm trying. I just … I feel like a crazy person."

"Can I do anything to help?" Shepard asked

"Yes. I need help. There's a traitor, somebody, one of us, out there. He or she or they have been taking things."

"What do you have?" Shepard asked

"Yes for real. And I don't have shit. I just know."

"Lilly …"

"The count's off and it's the good stuff. Antibiotics, oxy, fuck, anything with opium in it."

"I check the count every day. It's fine."

"I keep my own. That one's getting messed with. I'm a fucking mess right now but I'm not stupid. I know what happens if I start a witch hunt."

Shepard's eyes narrowed.

"So you want me to start one?" Shepard asked accusingly

"I want you to poke around." Lilly explained

Shepard sighed.

"What's there to go on?" Shepard asked

"I found this tossed into the garbage." Lilly said as she handed Shepard a flashlight. It was one of their higher quality ones.

"We don't toss out equipment. We fix it. You'd only try to get rid of a flashlight if you were using it when you shouldn't."

Lilly was right.

"Ok. I'll poke around a bit."

"Thank you." Lilly replied

Shepard walked out of the room.

"A mystery."

Shepard looked down to see Duck crouching next to the door.

Duck normally was not a very stealthy person, or at least she hadn't thought so.

He must have learned from Clementine's example, unfortunately.

"Duck." Shepard sighed

"I'm sorry … I heard you guys talking."

"I need you to forget everything you just heard." Shepard replied

"Can I help?"

"What did I just say?"

"You're the greatest detective and I can be Dick Grayson! Your ward!"

Shepard stared at him.

"That's Robin." Duck explained

"I know who it is." Shepard replied

She had absolutely no clue what so ever.

Shepard sighed.

"You can help, but don't tell anyone."

"So … what do I do?"

"I don't know. Go look for anything … weird." Shepard said

Duck ran off.

Shepard shook her head.

She went straight to Carley.

"You talk to Lilly yet?" Carley asked

"Yeah, it looks like there COULD be something going on. I would like to think that no one would do that here but …"

"But you would rather be sure." Carley replied

Shepard nodded.

"You know anything about this flashlight?" Shepard asked, holding out the flashlight.

"It's broken."

"I know it's broken."

"AND the batteries might be in backwards."

Shepard frowned.

"It uses just one."

"Everything should. What was the question?" Carley replied quickly

"Did you break the flashlight?"

"No"

"Ok"

"Talk to you later Carley." Shepard said

"See ya."

Shepard went back downstairs to Clementine.

"Hey, Clementine. Did you break a flashlight?"

"No, did Duck say I did?"

"No. Did Duck break the flashlight?"

"I don't think so. He's just always blaming me for stuff."

"Like?"

"Putting a bug on his pillow."

"Did you do that?" Shepard asked

Clementine was silent for a moment.

"Yes" Clementine said, with a small smile.

Shepard sighed.

Clementine giggled.

"I'll talk to you later, Clem."

"Alright."

Shepard walked over to Kenny and Katjaa.

Katjaa had been a little colder to her ever since she had taught Clementine how to shoot.

"Do you guys know anything about this broken flashlight?"

"Fuck … we don't go many of those." Kenny said

"Yeah, it's a problem. The glass and the bulb are all busted out."

"I saw some broken glass over by the ice machine. I meant to clean it up before the kids hurt themselves on it; I forgot though." Katjaa answered

"Thanks."

Shepard started to walk away when Katjaa called out to there.

"Yeah?" Shepard asked

"Do you have a moment?"

"Sure."

Katjaa led her a few feet away.

Shepard had been expecting this.

"Tell me what happened in the meat locker." Katjaa said

She hadn't expected that.

Shepard frowned … but decided that Katjaa had the right to know.

"Larry had a heart attack. I start to administer CPR … but Kenny put a stop to that."

"How?" Katjaa asked hesitantly.

Shepard sighed.

"By smashing his head in."

Katjaa gasped.

"Everything keep changing." Katjaa muttered as she walked away.

Shepard had to agree with that.

She started over towards the glass when she decided to talk to Ben about the flashlight.

"A flashlight is broken. Was it you?"

"No." Ben answered lamely

"You're not in trouble if it was. I know you get nervous, it probably was an accident. Then you decided it would better just to toss it."

"What's with the third degree? I didn't break any flashlight." Ben replied

Ben was slightly more convincing this time.

Ben got nervous when blamed with anything, even if he knew he didn't do it. At this point it was just as likely either way.

"Alright." Shepard responded

David was nearby.

"Hey, David. You accidentally break a flashlight."

"No … all I know is that I saw glass over by the ice machine. Almost stepped in in it. Maybe that's where it was broken?" David replied

Shepard nodded.

She walked over to the ice machine and found the glass. One of the glass shards fit exactly.

That's when Shepard noticed a pink X.

Shepard ran her finger over it and some of it rubbed off.

"Chalk." Shepard muttered out loud.

"Pink. Hmm."

Shepard looked over to see Duck right next to her.

"What do you think it is?" Shepard asked

"A clue!"

"Well … yeah." Shepard replied

"Maybe it's a sign."

Shepard took another look at the X.

It was on a section of wall that could be seen from the outside of the gate. It was also pink, which was bright and easy to spot.

"You might be right." Shepard muttered

"Ok, back to investigating!" Duck said before he ran off.

_Clementine is the one who plays with the chalk._

Shepard was making her way back towards Clementine when she decided that a talk to D

She knew that he wouldn't have broken the flashlight. She just wanted it fixed.

"Hey, Doug."

"Hey, Shepard. What's up?"

"I was just going to ask you if you could keep an eye on parts for this flashlight. Someone busted it up."

Doug looked the flashlight over.

"I'll see what I can do. At least this will give me something useful to do for a change."

Shepard didn't like the way he said that.

"Doug, you do a lot of useful stuff around here. Please remember that."

"I … alright."

"See you later Doug."

"See ya."

Shepard went back to Clementine.

"Hey, Clem."

"Hi, Jane."

"Do you have any pink chalk?"

"No. It's gone somewhere."

_Someone must have taken it._

"Do you want blue?" Clementine asked

"No, no. It's ok."

"Psst. Shepard." Duck called

"Yeah."

"I found something."

"What?"

"I found this pink chalk and a scuff of it over by the gate!"

Shepard was immensely surprised on how much of a help Duck was being.

Maybe he wasn't as dumb as everyone assumed.

"Good job, Duck."

Duck ran ahead over her and met her at the gate. Duck held his hand for a high five.

She indulged him.

His grin was ear to ear.

Shepard pushed open the gate. As Duck said there was pink chalk.

She would have to go outside.

"You stay here this time. I don't want anything bad to happen."

"Ok" Duck said with a shrug.

Shepard stepped outside and walked the perimeter of the outer wall.

It didn't appear that there was anything out of the ordinary.

Until she noticed a grate with something inside it.

She opened it up to find a bag. Inside the bag was several different types of bottles with medicine inside.

Shepard sighed.

Lilly had been right.

Shepard walked casually back to Lilly's room, trying to appear that she hadn't found anything. She knew that the traitor would have been watching her, waiting to see what she found.

"Have you come up with anything yet?" Lilly asked when Shepard returned

"Yeah." Shepard said as she presented the bag

"It has a portions of the meds in it. The bag itself was in a grate on the outside wall and there was a sign on the other one." Shepard continued

"Holy fuck."

"Yeah"

"Ok. We line everybody up. Everybody."

"Absolutely not. I will look into this. Discreetly."

"What!? WHY?!" Lilly yelled

"Because lining up everyone is going to cause tensions to rise, and they are already high enough as it is."

"Shepard, we need to …"

"Lilly do you trust me?"

"Yes" Lilly replied, without hesitation.

"Then trust me to do this. Please."

Lilly debated internally for a minute.

"Fine."

"Thank you." Shepard said

She went all the way back up to think about things. She need to be absolutely sure before she accused anyone.

* * *

Clementine's POV

Clementine noticed Jane walk upstairs to their room.

It was a little strange to see as Jane enter the room before bedtime. Lilly walked outside and started looking around the wall.

Clementine shrugged and continued to draw.

Jane would have told her about it if it was anything of importance.

Clementine finished her leaf rubbing for Jane. She made it using the largest and prettiest leaf that she had. She hoped Jane would like it. She was about to get up and deliver it when she thought she heard something.

Clementine looked over the wall.

Nothing.

Clementine turned around to find something that shouldn't have been there.

There were several people behind all of them.

All armed.

"DON'T MOVE OR WE'LL POP YOU!" the leader shouted.

Everyone froze.

The leader let out a whistle and several more bandits soon hopped over the walls.

The bandits herded them into a single group towards the front.

Clementine was terrified.

The only person who wasn't there was Jane.

"Y'ALL BETTER GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE! WE AIN'T FUCKING AROUND!" The leader yelled

Nothing happened.

"YOU MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIVES!"

Another moment passed in silence.

"Enough of this bullshit! Drew, start putting your boot to these doors!"

"Yeah!" Drew yelled

Jane stepped out of the room.

She looked VERY angry.

"Get down here asshole!" the leader said

Jane jumped from the second story, landing with a thud.

She looked fine though. Clementine would have assumed that would have hurt.

The bandits all took one step back.

"You think this is going to get you what you want?! You would be wise to leave!" Jane yelled

"Listen to this bitch! She tells US that it would best to leave when we have already won!"

"This is going to end in all of two ways. You are either leaving while you can still breathe or we throw your body outside the walls for the walkers." Jane replied

All the bandits pointed their weapons at her.

She smirked.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TOO?!" the leader screamed

"Not particularly." Jane said smugly

The bandit leader cocked his weapon.

He fired.

Clementine thought she was going to see Jane fall over dead, blood flying out of the back of her head ... the nightmare that she had always had.

Instead, she started to glow blue.

Jane's face contorted into a very intimidating smile.

"My turn." Jane whispered

* * *

**I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or critiques please few free to Review or PM.**

**I apologize for any grammar mistake that I missed.**


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